Freak in the Supernatural World
by WolfeLady
Summary: Bella has always been an abnormal human. After Edward leaves and she finds Laurent in the meadow her world changes completely. She moves on and 8 years later she comes face to face with the family that left her minus Edward. Please read.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

**AUTHOR NOTES:**

**This is my first fanfiction story. I have loved all the stories I have found but, I wanted to try one that I thought might be interesting. This story starts in New Moon, after Edward leaves and Bella is alone. This is how Bella can be stronger due to what makes her so different. My story is with Bella and Edward. I will be writing with different POV and I will see how well I do. I hope all the readers enjoy and please review.**

**Chapter 1: The end...I think?**

**Bella's POV**

..."Mouthwatering," he repeated, inhaling deeply.

I was ready to have this happen, to die was a change in my life that I have been prepared for since Phoenix in the cab heading towards my old ballet studio. Now as a hollow shell and no one in danger except myself, I wasn't even afraid as much as I knew I should be. My way of dealing with Edward leaving was not working and the pain was not getting any better day by day.

Now, I watched as Laurent got in position to spring, and all I did was stand there and think of MY angel, Edward. _I love you, Edward. I always have and I always will._

The next thing that I felt was a sharp pain in my left shoulder and a sucking sensation that felt oddly comforting. I closed my eyes and saw the face of the man who I loved more than anything else. Then it stopped, the pain and pull, from my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the Laurent was 10 feet from me with a look of fear and terror that was like none I had ever seen. I blinked to see him flash away from me running and I fell to the ground, curling on my side in a tight ball, crying because I was still on this earth. So, of course I knew that it wouldn't be long before everything I had wanted over 6 months ago was now going to be happening.

I looked up to see giant wolves looking down at me for a split second before they took off towards the area where Laurent just left. Maybe, I was going to be their desert after they finished Laurent off. They probably think that a running "human" (if they only knew) was more appetizing then one who was just laying here on the ground. I was not running so the chase and hunt was not there for them like it was going to be with Laurent.

I was alone and knew that maybe I could get to the thick forested area before the real pain started I could stay alive a little longer. ALIVE! HA. That was something that I had no choice in anymore. Either I would be a vampire soon or a snack for those beasts that passed me a few second ago. I wasn't sure which way would be less painful, but I got up and stumbled my way to the tree line. I was determined to make it as far as I could into the darkest part of the forest before I couldn't handle the pain anymore.

I had just passed in to the forest when my shoulder started burning. I thought that I was prepared for it since I remembered the excruciating pain from my last experience in Phoenix. I was so wrong. The pain was spreading but my legs kept going forward, like they were on autopilot, deeper into the darkness. My neck and head were pounding from the pain so I knew I didn't much more time. I looked around and found a small rock outcropping with dense foliage around it. Perfect. I can hide there however long it was going to take to have me change into a Vampire. The burning was moving to the other areas of my body and getting worse by the second. I just had to get to my hiding place, but then suddenly the legs collapse under me and I still was a few feet away from my final destination. Or shall I say, my final resting place.

It took everything I had to crawl a few more feet, but finally I was concealed in the forest. Now I had to remember not to scream, I hated the fact that I would need to soon. The burning got worse and was slowly working it's way through my legs and arms. It was almost to my hands and feet when I couldn't handle it anymore and had to scream. The fire was intensifying and pulsing with every beat of my heart.

How long was this going to last. I can't even last 5 minutes and already making the quiet forest a haunting nightmare of terrifying screams of agony. The fire was trickling to the last parts of my extremities when I screamed a second time. I was fighting a battle against two opponents, my body and the pain, both were winning. I began to pray that this was not going to take much longer.

I vaguely remember being told about the story of when Carlisle was changed. Did Edward say DAYS!?! This can't be happening and I had to deal with it for days. I was struggling to not scream again when a feeling hit me with such force that I almost cried.

I didn't cry from the pain. It felt so great that I wanted to cry out in pleasure. The burning was there one second and then it felt like ice was pumped through my veins. I would even say that pumped was not the right word, more like a flash freeze the instant that the venom reached every inch of my body. Is this part of the transformation? All I remember is that it was supposed to be the worst pain in my existence.

Then as if my mind was messing with me the burning came back worse than before, I screamed a bloodcurdling scream. I felt like my whole body burst into flames. I wasn't sure I could take this anymore. As quickly as the heat can back, so did the ice. WHAT WAS HAPPENING????

I don't know what, when, where or how long this was going on. But it keep doing the same thing over and over. And every time the blaze came back, I begged for the opposite and so it happened.

Soon, with every change in temperature, I started to realize something. It was getting easier to handle and lessening with each shift of the extremes my body was handling. My heart was still working overtime with the overload to my system and my brain was getting frozen and melted with each passing second or minute or hour. I am not sure of anything anymore.

Finally, the freezing hit with a cold I can't describe and I was shaking so hard that the shrubs around me where vibrating. It seemed like I was shivering forever when I felt the cold dissipating and I began to thaw. My heart was still beating like crazy trying to warm my body with blood that felt like it was ice cold.

I began to feel the shivering slow and my heart began to beat slower. This must be it, soon my heart will stop forever and I will be a vampire alone with no one to help me. My body stopped shaking and I could feel my teeth were not chattering anymore. I took a deep breath and I could feel the warmth in the air around me. I also could smell the different scents of the forest trees, Cedar, Oak Spruce. Also I could smell the moss and mildew mixed with the trees and shrubs. That was weird, but maybe that was part of being what I am now. Everything from my short time with Edward and his family told me that vampires can do amazing things and so this should not shock me.

I hadn't even realized that all the cold was gone and so I waited for my heart to stop. I laid in my hiding place and waited. I felt normal but I wanted to stay until this was over. My heart kept a very even pace and sounded strong but steady. I must have laid there waiting awhile looking around and breathing in the world around me trying to exam what had happened and plan for the next step. It was growing dark and I wasn't sure what day it was but I knew that I had to leave and never come back. I was becoming a Vampire and I had to stay away from temptation.

I was getting frustrated because I felt great but I could still hear my heart, an nothing had change in a while. How is this possible? If I am a vampire I can't have a heart beat. I looked down at my hands and they looked the same normal human hands I always saw.

Have I just imagined all of this happening? I know that I have wanted to be like the Cullens since I meet Edward and figured out what he and his family were. But I just couldn't make sense of why I was in the forest and felt great with A HEARTBEAT. Maybe it was a dream? Then I thought about Laurent and put my hand up to my shoulder where I thought I was bitten. I felt a dry, crusty texture and pulled my hand away to see flakes of dried red blood on my fingertips.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to drink blood but I did feel hungry and thirsty. Maybe it was the same feeling for blood or maybe I was still human. My head was hurting from me trying to figure everything out. So I decided to find the nearby stream and see what I looked like, clean up, and find out how water would taste like.

To stood up from the spot I had laid in for the longest time and started walking towards the sound of the stream. Wait, I didn't hear the stream before? I just kept heading in that direction and before I knew it I was there. The water looked fresh and cool, so I squatted down and cupped a handful of water and slowly drank it. It tasted wonderful and refreshing. Then I took some water and wiped the area on my shoulder. It was dried blood that was coming off my shoulder. I finished cleaning the blood off myself and decided that my third reason to come to this stream would be the deciding factor in if I was crazy or not. If I saw my reflection and I didn't look human then I would leave. If I looked like my plain old dull self then I must have imagined all of this.

Slowly, I bend over the area of the stream that was in front of me and looked into the water. A small gasp came out of my mouth when I saw myself. THAT"S IT!!! I AM GOING CRAZY!!! Nothing was different from the way I looked this morning in the bathroom. I looked the same as I always did. Then I felt a sadness wash over me, I was still human and so I would never be able to be in the world where Edward and Alice were. I fought the tears that started to come to my eyes. Why am I crying again? I know because I was crazy and I had finally snapped. But honestly, I was to blame for it if I hadn't push myself to hear his voice and do all those crazy things then maybe I could say I was sane right now. What am I going to do now?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

**Author Notes:**

**Hope my story has caught some of the readers interest. The detail and build up is the first few chapters so please bear with me. Please enjoy and review!**

**Chapter 2: Back to Human life.**

**Bella's POV**

I need to head home, Charlie is probably flipping out right now because I am not home yet. And I really don't want him looking or finding me in the woods after I promised him I would stay out of them due to the "big bear" that was killing hikers. At least now I know that the "Big Bear" was a huge wolf and a lot of them.

It was way after sunset and now I had the challenge of finding my way back to my truck in the dark. This was not going to be easy at all. I don't know where the compass and map I had when I got to the meadow are right now. Well, to tell the truth I didn't even know where the meadow is now too. GREAT!!! What should I do now? The responsible thing to do is stay in one spot and wait to be found. I couldn't do that again. My dad would ship me off to Jacksonville immediately if I was lost in the forest twice in less than 6 months.

I stopped worrying for a second to figure out how to get home. Think Bella!!! I closed my eyes and concentrated on where I was and which direction I should go. As I stood there thinking I started to hear the sound of cars to the right of where I was. Maybe I should go that way and see if it is the one ten highway I was hearing. Was I hearing the highway? The meadow was over 5 miles away from there. I didn't understand what was going on but maybe the stream was closer the the highway, if I was lucky.

I headed towards the sounds of cars when I heard a voice that sounded familiar, JACOB!

"This is her Truck but where is she?" he said

"I am not sure why she would be all the way out here alone?" another male voice questioned.

" I know why, dammit, she went to find that meadow we saw her in earlier." Jacob stated.

Before I realized I came out of the forest to see them by my Truck and they looked up with very concerned eyes. I walked a little further and said "Hey Jacob, long time no see".

He was still looking at me but now he was examining me with a stern eye. It was almost like he wasn't sure if I was me. Right now I could say that I wasn't even sure if I was really me, either.

I signed and then said "What your not talking to me when I am right in front of you now?" I keep walking towards my truck looking over at the other boy standing beside Jacob. I had to get home and face Charlie quickly. I hoped I wouldn't get grounded for too long.

Jacob hadn't moved an inch from where he was when I walked out of the forest and when I got closer to him he did the oddest thing. He sniffed me. But, then he got a big smile on his face and looked so relieved that I had to smile back. He picked me up in a big bear hug and said, "Sorry Bells I was just worried about you and to see you again was a little shocking. I am just so glad you are alright".

"Why wouldn't I be alright, Jake?" I said as he put me down.

"I just know how clumsy you are and when Billy got a call from Charlie asking if you were over hanging out with me I got worried something had happened to you." Jacob said with an underlined tone of stress that I could not place.

"I am fine, Jake. See nothing is broken and no scraps anywhere" I said in a light tone so he would stop worrying.

"Sure, Sure. Lets get you home before Charlie gets anymore worried" Jacob said with a smile.

"Who is your friend?" looking at the other boy.

"Oh sorry. Bella this is Jared" he say waving his had toward the other boy and I waved.

"What did Billy tell Charlie when he called asking about me?" Worried about if the truth was worse then a lie.

"Don't worry Bella, Billy knows that Charlie worries a lot about you so he said he wasn't sure and would call around and find out. He asked me and I said that I would see if you where around somewhere and so Charlie hasn't been updated by Billy yet." Jacob was a lifesaver.

"So that means that I might not get grounded?" I asked a little too enthusiastically.

Jacob laughed and said that "I owed him one" and then we got in my truck and headed back to my house.

When I got home, I walked in and Charlie was pacing when I opened the door. I smiled weakly at him and headed for the kitchen.

"Bella, do you mind telling me where you have been all day?" My dad asked.

I was trying to think of a good excuse when something dawned on me. He said "all day" not the last few days. That means that I got home on the same day that I left. WOW so it must have been a dream because if felt like I was gone for a lot longer then a few hours.

My dad cleared his throat when a knock came to the front door and it was Jacob who opened it. "Sorry about keeping Bella out all day, we just were having so much fun that I forgot what time it was." Jacob said.

"Oh. No problem Jacob I am glad you guys are getting along so well" my dad said a little to cheerfully.

I looked over at Jacob and he winked at me when my dad turned towards the living room. Jacob just saved me from the wraith of my dad so I couldn't be mad. I mouthed "Thank you" to Jacob and he smiled.

"Well I better be getting home now. Night Bella. Night Charlie" Jacob said his farewells while he was almost out the door. Both Charlie and I said "Night" and I headed upstairs to bed. I knew I was hungry but the exhaustion was winning quickly.

I went to the bathroom for a shower to get all the dirt out of my hair and relax from the weirdest day of my life. After drying off I wiped down the mirror with my towel and looked at my reflection. Yep, same old Bella! Then I was curious so I bent in closer to the mirror and looked at my shoulder. OH MY GOD!!! I had a bite mark that matched the one on my hand. It was totally healed and looked like it was as old as my other one. How can this be? If I had gotten bitten today then it wouldn't have healed already. And why am I still human if I did get bitten?

I must be crazy now because I can't make sense of anything that I had learn about. My body was so tired that I couldn't think about this anymore and headed to my bed and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

**Chapter 3: Back to normal**

**Bella's POV**

These last few weeks have been bearable. After the day in the meadow I stopped have dreams that I would wake up screaming from. Actually, I haven't had a dream since that day. That was a good thing because Charlie was feeling better about me and was a less worried. The gaping hole in my chest was still hard to deal with and it took a lot to move on with the day to day things.

School was the easier then before, probably from all of my studying I have been doing instead of being around my friends or having a normal life. Angelia was still talking to me and that helped me feel another connection to the world. Jessica and Lauren were ignoring me, but hey I guess that I deserved it after that last few months of being a zombie. Mike was still as persistent as ever in asking me out on dates, which I politely refused every time. Overall time kept moving forward and I had to try and keep up.

Jacob still hadn't been by since the night of the meadow and I still called every chance I got. Billy always gave me a different reason way he couldn't talk or call me back. It was worrying me but I had to give him some space.

Today was Sunday and Charlie left early to go fishing. I am planning to clean up, do some laundry and get ready for the next week of school. If I kept busy then I couldn't think about the bronze haired god that broke me and left me.

I was busy changing laundry when I heard a noise from upstairs. I turned around and cautiously started up the stairs with the broom in my hand as a weapon. The noise sounded like it came from the back of the house where my room was. Maybe he came back for me? NO don't be an idiot he said he was never coming back. I slowly got to my door and turned the door handle quietly. I opened the door and looked around. No one was in here so I finally let out the breath I was hold in and turned to walk back down the stairs and finish the laundry.

All of a sudden I was flying sideways and out of my window to the forest by my neck. Before I could figure out what was happening, my back hit something hard. It hurt for a few second and then I was looked up to see who had my by the throat.

VICTORIA!!!

If looks could kill I would be dead. She had an evil twinkle in her eyes and a cocky grin of satisfaction.

"Finally I get to avenge my mate" she said and then laughed and crackling evil laugh. "I am going to enjoy watching you suffer slowly before I kill you".

I couldn't speak. My brain was frozen and I was unable to figure out what was happening or what was actually said. Then something clicked, Laurent said that Victoria had her own plans for me. Mate for Mate. But Edward wasn't here anymore and I wasn't with him. Maybe she didn't know that.

I tried to tell her that I was not Edwards mate anymore but I could only get part of it out.

"Not....With....Edward" with her hand still on my throat it was hard to say.

She must have realized I was trying to talk to her, but she wasn't interested in what I had to say. She tightened he hold a little bit more and I was struggle just to breath in any air I could.

That is when she started the torture that would come before my death. Her nails from her free hand dug into my skin on my arm. It started to bleed and sting but it wasn't as bad as I would have imagined. She had a surprised look on her face, probably because I didn't scream in pain. My arm was covered in blood and she ripped my shirt to expose my abdomen. Then she raked her claws into my stomach with so much force that I thought I would see my insides come out. But still the pain was faintly there and I could feel the blood running down the front of my jeans.

She hissed and I looked in her eyes and could see the blood lust was getting to her. She was also getting even more frustrated that the results from her torturing me was not what she was not normal.

"You are a brave one. Also very stupid if you think that I will stop just because you don't scream" she laughed and then released he hold on my throat. She cocked he head to the side a little and waited. I had no idea what she was waiting for but I know that I had to run. I knew I couldn't outrun her but maybe I could get close enough someone could hear me yelling for help. I took off and was surprised at my speed, it wasn't as fast as Edward but I was faster than most people. Maybe it was the fear and the adrenalin that had me running for my life so quickly. I only got a few feet before she was in front of me and she threw me into a tree. OUCH!!! I know I had to have broken something. I looked at my arm and it was broken and deformed. But the pain was not as bad as I remember. This should have hurt like hell but I didn't feel it. Before I could think about my arm again Victoria was in front of me pressing me back against the tree I had been throw at.

"HELP!!!!" I shouted as loud as I could.

"That's a good human. Call the other humans here so I can kill them too" she smiled wickedly at me.

She released me again and I started to run. Again she cut me off and stashed me with her claws a few time that had me covered in more blood than I had ever seen. A stinging feeling was there but nothing else. I ran to the left and kept trying to get to where someone could hear me. "HELP someone please" again without stopping.

I then felt her jump onto my back and I hit the ground face first. Then I felt a sharp pain in my right side of my neck and the pulling sensation. She had enough of the cat and mouse game and want to finish this. I kept feeling the pull of blood from my body but I was not light headed. I tried to struggle but couldn't move. After several minutes she stopped and looked up. She growled defensively and then was gone.

I laid there wondering if someone heard my cries for help. I knew I was hurt and should be dead but for some reason I wasn't and so I stayed there.

I heard a howl that startled me and I jumped up. In the distance from the direction I heard the howl I saw 3 large wolves. They can over to where I was and looked at me, studying me. I was covered in blood with a broken arm and should not have a single drop of blood left in my body. Suddenly, one of the wolves, the large black one turned back to run to some bushes. A few seconds later Sam Uley can out from behind the same bushes.

I looked at him with a puzzled expression and then at the other 2 wolves. There was a Rust Colored one that looked sad and anxious. The Grey one just kept looking at me. I looked back at the Rust one and had a familiar feeling like I almost could recognize it.

"Bella how bad are you hurt?" Sam asked with confusion written all over his face.

"I...I'm not sure" I replied. I looked at my broken arm and took it so I could cradle it to me. Then I looked down and saw that my pants had been slashed from Victoria's attack.

"Are you in a lot of pain?" Sam asked still not moving any closer.

"No I feel fine, I can't explain it but I just feel like I am cover in dirt and not blood." trying to explain what I couldn't make sense of either.

Both wolves looked at Sam and then the Rust colored one whimpered and nudged Sam in the shoulder.

"OK. Lets get you to the hospital and make sure." Sam said almost in response to the wolf.

"No I can't go to the hospital! They won't understand how I got hurt so bad and I can't tell them what happened." whoops! I think I just said too much to them. "If I could just get to the house and get changed before we go to the hospital then it won't look so bad." I was not feeling like telling anyone that I was attacked by a vampire. Maybe they will accept my injuries if I say and animal of some sorts mauled me.

Sam looked at me and then said that we can head to the house just to get changed but then we where going straight to the hospital. I was happy with that. I got up and headed to the house. Sam was following but the wolves were gone. When I got to the front door Jacob was there and said "Bella you are hurt bad, we need to go straight to the hospital" he was aggressively arguing.

"No I will get changed really quick and then we will go" I stubbornly answered. When did he show up and why did he act like he was the boss of me.

I got inside and went straight upstairs to change. When I got inside my room to change I found I had a problem, a broken arm. I grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom. I closed and locked the door. Turning towards the mirror, I gasped. I was literally covered in my own blood. I could smell the rust and salt from the blood but I didn't feel faint. Odd that has never happened before. I gingerly moved my broken arm to my side and then start taking off my jeans with my good hand. When I pushed the denim across the front of my legs where the claw marks are I looked to see how bad my gash marks were. The bleeding had stopped and when I looked I started to freak out.

"OH MY GOD!!! NO WAY!!!" I couldn't believe my eyes. Jacob was at the door knocking asking if I was alright and if he needed to call an ambulance.

"NO! Please don't call an ambulance" in said in a shaky voice.

"Bella, please, you are hurt bad and we don't need to waste anymore time. We need to get you to the hospital right away." he said with authority.

"Please just wait a few more minutes and then we can figure out what to do" I looked back at my legs looked again. When I took off my jeans some of the blood was wiped away from my leg and I could see that I didn't have a cut where I should have had on. I turned on the water in the sink and grabbed a washcloth. I wiped my leg carefully to make sure I wasn't crazy. The area I had just clean look perfect. No scratches, cuts or bruises anywhere.

"Bella what are you doing in there. Quit worrying about cleaning yourself up and get out here so we can get you to a doctor." Jacob was still outside the bathroom. How was I going to go to the Hospital when there was no evidence that I had been hurt? And I couldn't tell Jacob I wasn't going after he saw all the blood.

There was no way I could get out of this without trying to explain the unexplainable. But, they couldn't deny the proof. I still had a broken arm so I guess I could appease them by getting that fixed at the hospital.

I finished washing the blood off my legs and then my stomach. My stomach was the same, no cuts were there. I looked again and still could imagine how this is possible. I couldn't wash my good arm so I left that still covered in blood. When I got to my broken arm I adjusted it and straightened it out gently so I could clean it. Then I moved it back to my side and got my clean jeans. This was going to be harder with one arm. I started to wiggle my way into my jeans and almost instinctively I used my broken arm to pull them the rest of the way on. I stopped myself after a second and looked at my arm. It didn't look broken anymore. IMPOSSIBLE!!! I stretch out my arm and examined it. It was working fine and I felt where the break was before and I couldn't feel anything out of place. I was really loosing it now. But I know what was real and this can't be right.

Another knock, "Bella you've been in there for 15 minutes are you still conscious?" Jacob asked in a worried tone.

"Yes Jake, I am still in here. Just another minute and I will be out." I said

Finishing dressing, I opened the door and Jacob looked at me in a peculiar way.

"Jake you are my best friend and I need you to help me figure something out. Please don't freak out or anything, but I need you to be open minded" I asked. I was cradling my once broken arm with my other that was still covered in blood. I was trying to keep up the appearance that I was still injuries until he understood.

"Can we go to the hospital first and then figure out what problem you have?" Jacob asked trying to get me downstairs.

"No wait. I can't go to the hospital that is the problem" I stated. He raised an eyebrow at the statement and then shook his head. "Bella, You have a broken arm and a lot of injuries, I am not arguing this anymore. Get in the car!" He was getting angry.

"Look at my broken arm and tell me we are going to the hospital" I was getting irritated. I held out my arm that was "broken" and waved it around front of him. His eyes got big and he gasped. Grabbing my arm quickly but gently from in front of him. "What in the hell. Your arm...it was broken I saw it" he then felt along my arm to see where the break was. He found nothing but a perfectly normal unbroken arm.

"How is this possible? I know what I saw there is no way you could have healed that quickly." He was still in awe of what he was seeing.

"Now do you see my problem and why we can't go to the hospital!" I questioned.

"Bella, this is incredible and impossible at the same time. What about your cuts?" he looked over at my "good" arm where the blood was almost dried. I turned back into the bathroom and grabbed the washcloth. He was watching intently as I washed the blood away to show that I had no injuries. His eyes were popping out of his skull at this point. He yelled for Sam to get up here and I tried to stop him. I didn't need the whole world to know I wasn't normal.

"Don't worry. You asked for my help to figure out what is wrong and I think Sam can help." He was trying to calm me down but it wasn't working.

Sam came upstairs and we went into my bedroom to explain. Sam looked over at Jacob then to me.

"Sam, something weird has happened to Bella, and maybe you might know what is happening. Look at her arm that we just saw 30 minutes ago being broken and tell me that how she can heal quicker than us?" Jacob started explaining. Sam's eyebrows furrowed and looked down to my arm. Again I waved it around to show what the problem was.

"I have been wondering how you were still alive after the Bloodsucker ran away. There was no way to figure out how you lived when we spotted you she had you down on the ground and what it looked like she was feeding off of you" Sam looked towards the right side of my neck and took the wash cloth I was holding an wiped away the area she bit me.

Jacob and Sam gasped. "How can she be still human after she was bitten?" Jacob asked.

"And it is healed completely. I have no explanation how or why that is. " Sam replied.

"So I am not crazy just a freak. Great! Why are you guys no flipping out about this?" I was wondering what they knew and weren't telling me.

Sam looked at Jacob and then said "I guess we can tell her now. Especially since we know why that bloodsucker has been trying to get around us. She needs to know and since this involves her we can tell her." Sam looked at my neck again and shook his head. "You are lucky that whatever is healing you stops you from being affected by venom. I know that it is poison to us so you are definitely lucky".

What do you need to tell me and how do you know about vampires? And you knew about Victoria?" I was confused to say the least.

"Bella, remember that story I told you when we were at the beach and you asked about the Cullens?" Jacob asked looking me in the eye. I thought back about that day and then it all fit together.

"You are those GIANT WOLVES!!!" I screamed. When I thought my world was already upside down.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

Author Notes: This chapter deals with a subject that people may criticize, but please remember that this is Fiction. Bear with me as I try to get my thoughts out correctly and with the POV's that are needed. Please enjoy and review.

Chapter 4: Hell on Earth

_8 years later..._

**BPOV**

Here I am in this sandy, sticky, sweltering hot armpit of the world. Me and Bubba with all of our gear smell horrific after this week long mission overlooking the target zone. Missing the basic comforts like a shower was common for us now. Visual confirmation of enemy targets are radioed in to our base camp by Sgt. Kessler, whom I called Bubba. Bubba has been my scout on missions most of the time while our unit has been here. He knew his job well. Missions were one thing that kept my mind focused. All things that had to be calculated in a split second without hesitation is what kept people alive.

Base camp comes back with orders to hold and take no action at this time. Evaluating the targets, I count 15 personnel carriers and 9 armored vehicles with 50 cals on top. Enemy targets estimated at 175, was the report radioed back. Our mission was simple. Assist our own ground troops against hostile enemies determined to hold this area of the country. My mission – learn how to do the most damage possible. My current job in the military – Sniper. Entering the military was easy. Choosing my first job was hard – EOD. But playing with explosives ended up being fun for me due to me being a "freak" and not having to worrying about getting hurt by them.

No one would have ever believed that I would have taken this path in my life. Honestly, my senior year of high school changed everything. I was too naive, weak, and sensitive back then. My parents were worried about my emotional state when _he_ left. When I came home from the signing up for the military they really began to panic. Now, they still worry a lot but have accepted my choice. I couldn't tell them that I really didn't have a choice in this path when I joined.

First, my "new" abilities kept me alive during the time I have served so fear never was a deciding factor. Second, I knew after Victoria had attacked and tried to kill me twice in my last year of High School and that no one I loved was safe with me around. And third, I needed to learn how to fight back against Victoria instead of just waiting in fear for the next attack. One of us had to die to end this and so far she was the only one who knew they **could** be killed. So here I am, a solider. I had to join one war to learn what I needed to know to fight the other war.

_Focus_, I told myself. Bubba awaited the ordered to commence. I started getting my bearings and conditions around me in order. Wind, trajectory, distance, angles. I adjusted my "baby" - my XM105 sniper rifle – for the new targets that came into range and sizing up whom was the greatest threat. Focused and prepared for the order to be given. Once the fire fight started, nothing could distract me. Emotions were not an option as a sniper.

The order was given and with deadly precision I executed my orders and my targets. Locating our position was almost impossible due to my ability to hit targets from over a mile away multiple times. Bubba called each target in a whisper he knew I could hear. The only sound that could be heard was the echo of each round being fired. My breathing was steady, my heart rate was normal, and my trigger finger softly and slowly squeezed away while one by one enemies were dropped.

Just like today, my mind would reassure me that by doing my job, that other soldiers lives were saved. I added my newest count from this mission into my "kill log" after returning to base. Walking into the briefing later on was the routine. Except today after my mission brief, my commander wanted to speak to me. I stood at ease in his office when he handed me a message from the Red Cross. This is what I was afraid of all these years. I didn't want to open it to see who's name and what happened. My commander knew we all hated seeing these messages but it was part of our life over here. Taking a deep breath, I opened the messaged to read:

_Dated Jan. 31, 2014_

_To: Sgt Swan, Isabella M._

_We regret to inform you that on January 29th your mother Renee Dwyer and Phillip Dwyer perished in a house fire. Please accept our condolences and we request for your command to approve leave for you to return to the United States immediately for arrangements to be made for them._

_Message was send after being contacted by your father, Charles Swan._

Nothing can truly hurt more than having someone you love ripped away before their time on this earth is over. The hole in my chest that has been there since _they _left over 8 years ago burned and torn away at me with this news. Being who I was now and understanding that this was most likely inevitable, by stopping my tears until I was alone. My father was my only family left but even then I knew that time will take him too, one day. This is life and I know it isn't fair; never is.

Packing to leave and having to think how to handle the funeral of my mother and stepfather, I tried to keep calm but tear left my eyes, against my will. No one in my unit had to say anything or ask any questions when they saw me. They all knew that it had to be bad new due to the fact I don't show emotions around them a lot, especially over here. Hell on earth.

While on the flight back to Texas before going to Florida for the funeral, I thought about all that has happened in the last 8 years and I have know for a long time that my other_ family_ had left me all those years ago, I still loved to this day. I missed them more than ever. But, I must have been just a boring distraction. If Alice had seen the multiple times my life should have ended and still not cared to help, I knew they never really did. Taking care of my battles was my personal mission. _He_ had meant what he said that day in the forest; _"It will be as if I'd never existed"_

**Alice POV**

"_**8 YEARS!!! and all I can see is muddy water...Ugh!!!"**_ I was getting irritated that my visions of Bella's future which were just that - muddy water. I can see movement and figures but can't make anything else out.

"Alice, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Please just try and relax. We know if there is something there that Bella is still alive and probably happy." Jasper whispered in my ear.

We had the house to ourselves currently. That was the only time I would dare to check on Bella's future. "Jasper, what if she is not safe or happy. What if she is in danger and I can't see it to help stop her from being killed." I was getting more and more worried the longer we stayed away from her. Edward had forbid me to look into her future and I held out for almost 3 years before breaking down. He hasn't stayed with our family expect a month since we left Forks, but he checked in with us every few months.

About a year after we left, Esme insisted we find him and bring him home because she was so worried about him. He stayed in our house in Canada for about a month before finding some excuse to leave again. After that, Carlisle just told him to let us know where he was incase we needed to contact him for any reason.

After Jasper calmed me down, I wanted to do some busy work so I got up and headed towards the family room with Jasper following. Halfway down the stair a vision hit on it's own. It was a horrid sight. I instantly knew who I saw, Renee and Phil in their house being attacked by a Vampire. Looking at the back of the Vampire I knew by the red hair that it was Victoria. She attacked and killed Bell's Mom right in front of me. I screamed and fell to my knees at the bottom of the stairs. I held onto the vision just long enough to see Victoria setting the house on fire to cover her attack.

Knowing we would be to late to save Bella's family because I guessed it would happen in less than a few minutes. I started to cry with dry sobs at the fact that my best friend will lose her Mom and stepfather and I couldn't do anything about it. The pain and grief she would be going through once she found out would be crippling.

"What did you see, Alice? Please tell me." Jasper begged as he wrapped is arms around me to comfort me. "Bella's Mom and Phil have been killed by Victoria in their house!" I was chocking on the vision as it replayed in my head.

"Can we get there in time to help them? Alice we need to help if we can. When is this happening?" Jasper already had his phone to his ear calling Carlisle. "We can't stop it! There is nothing we can do...it's going to happen any minute!" I knew Carlisle heard what I had just said but Jasper gave him what was happening.

"Are you sure that we can't stop this? Look again and make sure, please Alice" Jasper loved Bella as much as any of us. He never forgave himself for what happened at her birthday party.

Concentrating on Renee all I got was pitch black. Again I tried to see Phil's future...pitch black. That feeling was my guarantee that nothing can be done. "They are dead Jasper" His face twisted in agony and he felt as much pain for Bella's loss as I did. With all my strength I worked on seeing Victoria's future and she was standing in the woods somewhere, LAUGHING!!!

"Times up, it's time to play Bella" she smiled and kept laughing.

I snapped my head to look at Jasper. "Victoria is going after Bella next. We have to save Bella" I was instantly on my feet and calling Edward's cell. Every time it went to Voice mail. "Why isn't he answering?"

By this point the rest of the family was home and Jasper was explaining the visions. Carlisle tried Edward and he didn't get an answer either. Pacing the living room, thinking about what was needed to be done I said "We need to go to the funeral and see Bella, warn her about Victoria."

Esme asked "What do you see in Bella's future?" She always worried about her children and Bella was her daughter.

"I haven't been able to see anything but faint images and figures. Nothing is clear in any of them. It's like looking into muddy water or a really thick fog" I was starting to dial Edward again as my worrying about Bella's life increased. "Dammit Edward PICK UP!!!" Still no answer.

"She is still alive is all that means, but I don't understand what has changed that is causing Alice's visions to have that affect" Jasper informed them.

"If Victoria wasn't after Bella, we need to be at the funeral anyways for Bella. Everyone pack quickly and I will call the airlines. Alice keep trying Edward until you talk to him, **DON'T** leave a message. You need to find out where he is and make sure he gets home to us before we can tell him about what is going on." Carlisle was instigating the plan. "All of us here will go to Florida and try to talk to Bella. She will be in a lot of pain from her loss but she doesn't know Victoria actually murdered them. We need to be prepared for the worst. Bella may not respond to us very well considering all that has happened. We need to get going now."

Even Rosalie was eager to go to Florida to see Bella. She has shown more compassion then I have ever seen towards Bella after we left her. Typical Rose, she care about someone as long as they don't know ,so she can keep her reputation in tacked. She is so self-centered but she loved Bella even if she would never shown it in front of her.

And with that, we all took off in different directions. Seeing Bella for the first time in years had me excited. I knew Carlisle was right, we all left Bella without so much as a goodbye. And now we are going to step back in her life in one of the worst times for her. We all needed to remember this and not overreact once we saw her again.

**EPOV**

Darkness was all around all the time. My pain had caused my mind to shut out everything but Bella and all I could do was curl up in a ball. I can't remember where I was or how long I have been here. Time is lost to me and my memories are my only company. After 8 years I still couldn't function. I think it has gotten worse slowly over the years. _My_ Bella. I had to hope she was happy right now. Breaking the promise I made to her the last time I saw her was the only time stopping me from finding her. That promise - "I promise this will be the last time you will ever see me." - was surrounded by the most horrifying lies my lips have every spoken.

My ears were deaf to any sounds that surrounded me. All I heard was he sweet voice as she whispered _"...I love you, Edward"_ with her beautiful brown eyes full of love in the front of my mind.

Soon I knew I would have to hunt. I always waited until I nearly lost control to hunt. I was trying to not be the monster I was. More than anything else I wished for this. Then the pain I caused Bella would have never happened and we could still be together. The monster held me hostage away from the one thing I wanted more than anything, _my_ Bella.

I vaguely remember something changing around me but didn't acknowledge the change. Whatever it was it wasn't important in my state of mind. I knew I would have to function soon. Hunting and calling home to check in so, I could curl back up and feel the pain and darkness continue.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

Chapter 5: The Funeral

Bella's POV

When I arrived back in the United States, I called Charlie to let him know the plans and that I didn't need him to come to Florida for the funeral. He was safer in Washington where the pack could protect him. After reassuring him that I had everything under control and would be heading up there as soon as the funeral was done, he felt better.

In Texas I grabbed my dress uniform and some gear that I have "procured" in case I needed it. Ever since I left Forks 8 years ago, I carry my gear and supplies that I might need if I faced Victoria. Most of the arsenal I had in my house I had secured in a vault type armory hidden in the basement behind a false wall. The main problem with being prepared for war against Victoria was I had to drive everywhere. Yeah! More sleepless nights.

Making all the arrangements over the phone for my mother and Phil's funeral meant less time to think. Once in Florida, I got to the hotel and prepared for the funeral in the morning. It was overcast, when I left for the funeral in my dress blues. The funeral was going to be small due to the short time to plan. After the funeral home had explained the condition of my mom and stepfather, I asked for them to be cremated.

Walking into the funeral, I was emotionless. The arrangements were handled perfectly. The photos I had dropped off yesterday where placed in front of each urn and the flowers were very elegant. Going to the front, and saying my goodbyes, I looked around and didn't recognize anyone who was in attendance. This made it easier to handle my emotions. I went to the side of the isle against the wall and stood there awaiting the end of the funeral. I wasn't one for speeches so instead I had written up something to be placed in front of both pictures to express their lives.

That's when I senses 6 individuals at the entrance of the building. I felt them before they even entered. I didn't have to look and see who was here...my long lost family....The Cullen's.

My emotions went wild, my body held strong to not betray my reaction to them being here. Pain, confusion, love, disgust, and more. They walked in and looked around. They went to the front and paused where my parents are now. Then walked to the side of the building where I was and stopped beside me. They held their distance but, I could tell they were shocked to see me dressed as I was.

Carlisle was the first to try and speak, "Bella? Is that you?" I barely moved my head at the sound of my name. The name that I was unfamiliar with. Sgt Swan is what I have been know as for the last 8 years.

I knew I could not speak to them without anger and violence coming along with the words. I held silent, they could smell me and know it was me.

Esme was the next to try and talk to me, "Bella, dear, how are you doing?" Why the HELL do they care. I still was silent.

"Bella, please speak to us. Say something" Alice's words almost broke me as she pleaded with me.

Then I got a shock when I heard "Sgt Swan, you have our condolences in regards to your family, Ma'am" Jasper addressed me. I nodded in his direction but still was not willing to disrespect this funeral with a confrontation.

I knew that I had to get my point across without being personal so they could leave and I could do what I need to do when it came to Victoria. If they got involved and tried to interfere, most likely they would get hurt or maybe die.

Pivoting to face everyone, I simply quoted a saying I live by _"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever" _I walked past the Cullen's and left the funeral. Luckily, Edward wasn't with them. He probably was having fun with another distraction. Getting in my car and heading North West to Washington without another word.

Alice's POV

We got to Florida and I saw that the weather would be fine for the morning Funeral. We were all wondering what Bella was like after 8 years. Was she married? Did she have kids? What kind of career did she have? Everyone was thinking these thoughts when we drove up to the building listed in the obituaries for Renee and Phil.

It was a small but quaint place. Not a church but I was pretty sure that Bella and her family weren't strong believers in a specific religion. When we got to the entrance, Carlisle reminded us to be understanding about Bella. Entering the building we all could smell the freesia fragrance that was distinct to Bella but we didn't see her right away. We all were following Carlisle lead as he headed to the area with 2 urns and pictures of Renee and Phil. Under the each picture was a remembrance of each person in the words of a loved one. Bella wrote these, we all could tell. After each of us paid our respects to Renee and Phil we followed Bella's scent to the side wall where there was a woman in a military uniform standing.

All of us were shocked at the fact that Bella was the woman in the uniform. My mind started racing with questions. Why did Bella join the military? Bella was too sweet, innocent and shy to be a solider. About then Carlisle asked the question we all were wondering

"Bella? Is that you?" I can't believe that she is in the military. Maybe she is working in the Medical field? Cook? Law field? All Bella did was slightly turn her head upon hearing her name. She said nothing. So our worst fears were confirmed, she hated us. DAMN Edward for being stupid and not listening to me when I said we should not leave Bella.

"Bella, dear, how are you?" Esme cared so much for what Bella was going through. Still no response from Bella. Esme was taking this hard.

I had to try "Bella, please speak to us. Say Something" All I got was a deep breath and a twitch in the corner of her eye. She wanted to say something but I just didn't know why she wasn't saying something.

"Sgt Swan, you have our condolences in regards to your family, Ma'am" Jasper, my military man, knew how to talk to Bella now that she was a solider. That statement got a response. She nodded her head towards Jasper and we all felt a little better to see some reaction.

Then she did a perfect turn and faced us. You could see she noticed Edward wasn't here when she glanced at each one of us. Then she finally said "No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever". Walking past us and leaving without another word.

Yep, she was still hurt and mad at us. We all understood that she had told us that we left a mark. Just like she had left a bid mark on all of our destinies, especially Edward's. We are not sure if it is a good mark or a bad mark we left on hers.

This meeting wasn't what anyone had expected and we didn't even get to the main point of why we where here. Victoria.

Jasper POV

When we walked in the building the first thing I noticed was the solider standing at attention by the wall. Did Bella's family know others in the military? I wasn't aware of any of her family being in the military. I was curious about why this solider was here.

When we followed Bella's scent to the solider I was in shock. Bella is the solider. She never seemed to be the combative type. She was always so innocent, kind and selfless. Carlisle tried to confirm if it was Bella. She was holding a confident stance so we all noticed the turn of her head. She was so different than I remember. Just looking at her, she had confidence, pride, and she was strong. I looked over her uniform and noticed she had numerous ribbons and her rank. I made a mental note of all the symbols, patches and pins.

Addressing her as she should be addressed to relay our sympathy for her loss, she looked to me and nodded. Bella was a solider through and through. My acknowledgment of her status made a world of difference in breaking her silence.

Then she quoted a French author, whom I have read some of his novels. She had strict military mannerisms and left without another word. We all were processing this new person that we thought we knew. She was not the same Bella we left years ago, things have changed.

Edwards POV

When I finally couldn't stand the burning in the back of my throat and my body was shaking from not feeding, I left the shack I was in which was outside of Conner, Ireland in the country, to got hunt. I spent hours feeding until I was past my point of feeling sloshy. This way it would take longer to leave my personal hell that was the closest I could get to heaven on earth right now.

Upon returning to my small cabin I found my phone beeping, showing 37 missed called. Something is wrong. Most of them where from Alice but I hadn't decided on anything new that she could see my future changing. Maybe they were just worried since there was snow on the ground now and the last time I called them it was just turning to the fall season. The first call came almost 2 weeks ago and no one has left a voice mail. Odd. If they just were checking on me they could have left a message.

I dialed Carlisle, and he picked up on the first ring. "Edward, are you OK, son?" He sounded worried.

"I am fine. Just noticed all the missed calls, is everything alright?" I was worried now.

"We need you to be on the next plane to our house in upper state New York. We have some family business that need everyone's involvement in. Can you get here soon?" Carlisle usually handled most of the family business.

"I can be but, can you tell me what this is about, Carlisle?" Needing to find out if my family is in danger.

"We can discuss all the details when you arrive. We just have some unfinished business that has come to light and we need to handle it soon." Unfinished business? What is he talking about?

"OK Carlisle. I will be there soon." I hung up and gathered a few thing and left. When I got to the airport I got the first flight to New York and headed across the to the other side of the airport to board.

As I was walking to the terminal a smell hit me like a ton of bricks. Freesias. I looked around and only saw a few elder people and a few soldiers in uniform boarding a flight to the Middle East. I didn't see Bella anywhere. Could someone have her scent? Is my mind making it up? I kept walking towards my gate and the smell was fading. I got to the gate that headed to New York and the gangway still had a strong scent like Bella's. Why would Bella be in Ireland? Did I just pass her in this airport? Then I realized that the odds of Bella and me being in the same airport at the same time was slim to none. I forgot about it and board the plane to see my family again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

Author's Notes: I appologize for the problem with the upload. I have manually fixed the spacing in this chapter. I appreciate the reviews I have gotten so far and they are keeping me writing. Please keep reviewing.

**Darlene10104**: Bella is "immortal" but she isn't sure from what research she has done. I will go into the idea I have about immortals later in the story. Right now she just can't die and has no real information about why or how.

**Chapter 6: Back to Hell**

Boarding the third plane that would take me back to my unit to finish up my deployment, I felt less tension in my return to the sand box then other times. I started replaying all that happened in Washington and thinking about what Jacob had told me,

"Bella, you are my best friend and I care about you a lot. The whole pack see you as their sister and even Leah has warmed up to you. I have found my happiness when I imprinted Jennifer, but Bella where is your happiness?" Jacob knew that fighting and war was what my life consisted of for the last few years. "I have noticed that your freaky ability has another problem. Bella you still look the same as you did in High School. You are 26 years old but don't look it. Have you realized that?" He was right and I did realize that my looks didn't match my age.

I have been working out a lot which I found helps with healing injuries quicker. I also am stronger even though my muscles only have show a slight increase in size. It looked like my body was in good physical shape as well as extremely toned. Being in the military, kept me in good shape and helped with my reflexes.

Jacob continued "What if you can live forever? I am thinking that you need to plan ahead and think what your opinions are. People are going to start noticing. I also have been thinking about when we aren't here anymore for you. Even though it goes against everything I am raised to believe, there is only two options you have. Vampires live forever and the Cullen's aren't the worst of their kind and maybe things can be worked out. The only other option is a eternity of loneliness. I don't want that for you Bella. Things have changed a lot for you and you still love them. I don't know why they left but, since your different now maybe you could find them after you get out and talk to them."

Wow! Jacob is actually telling me to find Vampires and talk to them. This had to be hard for him to say. Although he did make sense. My stubbornness has only gotten worse so I would try the second option first, being alone. I would worry about the future after I got done with my military obligations. If I could live forever then, I had time to figure out what has changed with me. I have read a lot about immortality, these past eight years, but I knew I was just hitting the tip of the iceberg.

As we landed at the airport I was still thinking about the future. Not the long term. Just what I was going to do in a few months when I got out. While in Washington, I finished up all the legal paperwork and insurance documents. Money wasn't important to me, my mother and Phil were more important than any amount of money. But they made sure I was taken care of so I need to start handling my life after the military.

Heading to Washington a few weeks ago, I found a quiet little town in Colorado that looked like a nice place to start my new life. Before I get out, I already knew that was a place I could settle down in, alone. Too many memories were in Washington, so I could never go back there and be happy. After spending days in the Middle East with temperatures in the hundred and fifty degree range, the Colorado chill sounded like bliss.

Missions stayed at a minimum, due to us leaving back to the states soon. The new unit would be falling in soon for the change over. I received some mail at least once a week from someone at La Push or Charlie. I started to miss my mom's long letters she would always send. Life is hard and unfair so the saying "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" was the irony in my life now.

**Carlisle POV**

The funeral had hurt our family more than I expected. The response we had gotten from Bella was not the one we all hope for. The words she spoke had so many meanings and even more unanswered questions running in all of our minds.

"Carlisle, what do we do now?" Esme asked me but everyone always looked to me for guidance. "We need to find out more about Bella's new life so we can find Victoria. If Victoria is after her she will be hunting her where ever Bella is." I suggested.

Jasper made the most impact with Bella after 8 years and understood more about the military, war and combat than any of us. "Carlisle, I have already started researching what I can about Bella's new life. We have a problem with finding out a lot of details. The government has a lot of classified information and digging too deep can cause flags to be raised" Jasper was one step ahead.

"What have you found out so far, Jasper?" I was curious about the daughter I lost so long ago. "She is overseas in the desert right now according to the address listed for her when I ran her name on the internet. Victoria probably can't get to her there due to the climate. My guess is that Victoria killed Bella's family to force her to come back so she could try and kill her." Jasper was always about tactics.

"Once Edward arrives and we talk to him about what is going on, we need to find a way to tell her about Victoria. If you are right and Bella is safe overseas then we need to take this time to find Victoria and kill her before Bella come back." I knew Emmett was already getting worked up about a fight.

"If we take care of Victoria can we try to fix what we messed up with Bella. Seeing her in Florida made me miss my lil' sister even more than before" Emmett wanted to be the big brother to Bella like before.

"We need to talk to Edward, but honestly our family has been missing something since we moved from Forks and I am tired of the pain this has caused our family. We will work on fixing all the problems with our family after we take care of Victoria." I wasn't going to listen to Edward this time. He asked us all to leave Bella but now after all these years I knew we needed to change what happened. This family will be whole again and I was determined to get my son and daughter back into the folds.

**Jasper's POV**

When we went home to New York I when straight to the study and got on the computer. I did my basic research first and came up with nothing. Then I started finding out about what Bella's job in the military was. I looked up what unit the patch was on her shoulder of her uniform and was stunned. If I was right, then she currently was a Sniper. Bella kills people. My family won't understand or accept this very well. Looking up more of the pins over the ribbons I found that she was airborne and EOD. These fields had a life expectancy that was short.

Her life story was not mine to tell. My previous life was one that was rarely told and something that wasn't easy. But it was part of me, just like this was part of Bella's life now. Learning about the training needed for these fields made me respect Bella more than ever. As it goes for humans, Bella's knowledge in the military could make her very lethal, even to vampires. My mind couldn't wrap around the idea of Bella being that big of a threat.

Carlisle asked some question later on in the week and I told him that the research I could do was limited. We had an address for her and I kept tabs on what I could. She owned a house in Texas that just recently went up for sale. Looking at pictures online helped he understand her new life. Her house was very plain with no decorations. Looking over the interior pictures I ran across a photo of the basement in the house and something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it but the layout was wrong.

I knew that we could easily buy the house but if Bella found out we had bought her house she might take it the wrong way. From what I remember she didn't like being helped or handouts.

Alice was quiet since returning to New York. I knew she was hurt to see her best friend walk away from her without saying much. She was also probably trying to see her future with no luck. Alice was always a glutton for punishment and determined to be the one who helped make things right.

Rose was walking around in disbelief that Bella could be that cold to us. She never took rejection well and Bella's rejection of the whole family she was fuming. Everyone's emotions where different, this was a welcomed change from the last 8 years of misery and agony, most had felt.

**Edwards POV**

Arriving in New York, I was met by Carlisle and we headed to the house. Asking questions on the way. All my father would say was "This involves everyone so we will talk as a family" I tried and read his thought and they didn't make much sense. He was remembering his time during the last few wars when he was a doctor and seeing all the wounded and dead solders. He must be blocking his thoughts from me. When we pulled up to the house I tried to hear the thoughts of my family and they also were blocking me. Something was definitely wrong.

We entered the house and everyone was at the dinning room table, conference time. I sat in one of the two remaining chairs and looked at my family for the first time in years. It was hard seeing the pain and sorrow in their faces. This is why I left, but now I know that I was being selfish and they needed me here. After today I knew I couldn't leave again.

Carlisle started. "Edward, we need to talk to you about a vision that Alice has seen a few weeks ago that has distributed us greatly. This will not be easy to deal with especially for you, but please hear us out." He waited to make sure I agreed to hearing everything before reacting. "We all know you have a tendency to overreact but this situation can't be handled that way. Things have already happened and could get worse if we don't handle it properly." He paused then continued. "Alice had a vision about Bella's mom and Phil being killed in their house in Florida" The vision hit me from Alice's mind and I doubled over in pain at seeing the horrors of what was happening.

My eyes locked with Alice's and I could see that it had already past. "Is Bella still alive?" That was my first worry. "Yes Edward, Bella is alive and well when we saw her" Alice replied. "What do you mean **when** you saw her? I thought you all promised me not to interfere with her life anymore." I can't believe they broke their promise.

Rosalie was the one who answered "Edward, did you realize who killed Bella's parents in the Vision? Are you that blind to realize that Bella's life is endanger due to us not interfering and now her mother and stepfather are dead because of our promise to you. Victoria is trying to kill her now. She is not safe, Edward! Quit being so stupid about Bella and think about it." she hissed at me.

"It doesn't make sense. Why would Victoria kill Bella's parents? What is the reason behind her going after Bella?" I was confused about everything I was hearing. Then it occurred to me "James must have been Victoria's mate!" How had I been so blind. I wasn't paying attention that day in the field when we first met them. "Alice, what about Victoria's future?" I wanted to see where she was so I could stop this now.

"Wait Edward." Carlisle got my attention again. "We need to explain the entire situation before we act. Since it has been a few weeks since Alice had that vision, things have significantly changed. Bella is safe for the time being, son. Victoria will be dealt with by us soon. But we need to work out some problems before running off without a plan." Carlisle was right.

Now, all I wanted to know is about Bella. They said they had seen her. Why were they still blocking their thoughts. "You said you saw Bella. When? How is she? What is her life like now?" I couldn't stop myself even though knowing the information could hurt more than ever I wanted to know.

Carlisle was looking at the others and said "She has changed Edward. More so than you might be prepared for. Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes, please I need to know what happened after we left. I can deal with it Carlisle, even if she is married or has children, that is what I wanted for her." I hoped our leaving could give her a life I couldn't.

"If your sure, than I will unblock my thoughts so you can see. All of us were there, but it might be overwhelming to see all of our thoughts at once." I waited and then Carlise thought back to the day of Bella's parents Funeral. His mind kept focusing on a soldier by a wall. Then I saw the solider clearly and gasped. _My_ sweet Bella was a solider. I stayed with Carlisle's mind and watched them try and talk to her. She was silent the whole time. The only intentional movement was towards Jasper. Then her beautiful voice spoke the words that spoke volumes to me.

"_No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever"_

Then Carlisle spoke to me in his mind "_**Edward, we all hurt her and we need to make it right. Please hear what I am saying. She is your soul mate and a part of this family. "**_

I closed my eyes and took a deep unnecessary breath to calm myself. Jasper helped with the calm he sent towards me. I opened my eyes and asked "Where is she now?" Jasper replied. "From the address I found for her, she is still overseas in the Middle East. She is safe over there"

"Conner, Ireland – that was her at the airport" I was shocked that I was a few feet away from her and didn't even realize it. "What are you talking about Edward" Emmett asked. "When I was leaving to come here, I smelt freesia. That was her smell in the airport but I only saw a couple of soldiers boarding a plane headed to the Middle East. I didn't realize that it was her."

Emmett laughed "We didn't recognize her either at the funeral but, that's funny how fate putting you two in the same place and neither one of you saw each other." I am glad someone found that funny.

I looked at Jasper "Why do you think she is safe? She is in a war zone for crying out loud." I didn't mean it to sound as harsh as it came out. "I meant she was safe from Victoria due to the sun." Jasper explained.

Looking back to Alice "Have you seen Victoria lately?" She shook her head "no". Then I asked "What about Bella's future, what can you see?" She let out a irritated sigh and showed me something I couldn't understand. "What was that Alice?" Then she frowned at me and said "That is what I have been getting for the past few years every time I try and look at Bella's future. Jasper feels that as long as I am see some movement that she is still fine but I haven't been able to see anything else"

"So if we can see her future how are we going to find her and stop Victoria?" I directed my question to Carlisle this time.

"The old fashion way I guess. We have her address and the best way to keep her safe is to talk to her. We will need to stay close to her when she returns but the last meeting with her didn't go so well. We need to warn her about Victoria but sending a letter about it isn't the best way. I have been thinking about everything that would get her to talk to us and I only have one solution. That is why we asked you to come home. We all have missed you terribly but, you are the only one Bella might listen to and talk to. She needs to be willing to talk to us after she gets home and so you need to write to her and tell her what is needed to be said." I understood the underlined message Carlisle was saying. He made his point clear in his mind _**"Tell her the truth, Edward."**_

Looking at Jasper again "Can you get me her address. I guess I have to do some writing and it will take awhile to find the right way to explain what has happened." Jasper gave me a small grin and handed me a folded piece of paper with her address.

Now, I had to think of what I need to say to her so she might understand how I felt and why we left. I really wished I could do this in person but, Carlisle was right. She needed to be open to us talking to her about Victoria before she got back. I just hope she would want to read the letter instead of figuring out I had written it and destroying it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

**Author Notes:** Thank you for the reviews so far. The keep me going and work all the details in the story out so that I can give it my best.

Chapter 7: Letters from Home

**Bella's POV**

For the first time in a long time my life was going exactly the way I wanted it to go. Last week half of my unit was told that we would be getting a new duty station in Colorado due to a new tactical restructuring of military units. When I received my new orders to Colorado I smiled, a genuine smile, for the first time since I joined the military.

I knew that I would miss my buddies who would be still in Texas, but I was happy to find that some of the best and truest ones were coming to Colorado with me. Bubba would be joining me in Colorado which made him happy to be closer to his home in Wyoming. Life was great and I was excited about planning for the future.

Sitting on my bed, browsing the internet, searching for houses in Colorado. During my time in the military, I have saved all the money I have received from bonuses, deployment pay and now my parents life insurance. I also invested in some stocks and had done pretty well. Knowing that my war with Victoria needed me to have the resources to fight her as long as I needed to, I saved everything I had.

A knock on my door pulled me out of my daydreaming. Bubba walked in with a letter for me. I looked at him a little confused because that is not a normal thing for Bubba to bring me mail personally.

"Sorry to interrupt, Swan. This letter was held in the mail room for a while for testing before they would release it. Due to the fact it has no return address they had to take precautions. I thought you might want it so I finally convinced the clerk to let me take it to you." Bubba was always watching out for me and taking care of things.

He walked over to my bed and handed the letter to me. When I took it from him I instantly noticed the heavy weight of what looked like expensive paper. When I looked at the front of the envelope I instantly inhaled quickly and was speechless. I knew this handwriting, Edward had written me a letter.

Bubba noticed my reaction to the envelop and asked if I was "OK". He seemed concerned that it might be bad news from my reaction.

"No, I am fine." a reply I used a lot around my unit to stop too many personal questions.

"Swan, do you know who it is from? Why didn't they put a return address?" Bubba normally didn't ask a lot of questions but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"It's just a letter I didn't expect to see ever. From someone whom I thought would never care about me again." I was still looking at the front of the letter postmarked March 3rd and seeing that Edward had written my address in the proper way for military personnel.

_Sgt Swan, Isabella M._

_A Co, 47th Inf. Bn._

_APO, AE 07543_

So he must know now that I was in the military and the family had told him what happened when they say me. Bubba coughed to get my attention.

"Well, if they ever really knew who you were, I don't think anyone could ever not care about you, Swan. Even with your tough attitude, everyone of the soldiers in this unit respect and care about your more than you know. You have saved most of our asses more than once and never once thought twice about risking your life to save us. You are someone that no one could ever _not_ care about." Bubba said this as he started to leave.

"Thanks Bubba for getting this to me and I appreciate you watching out for me while we have been here." I knew that he did a lot of things that he thought I didn't know about. He had stood up for me and defended me when others started spreading rumors. I didn't care what rumors were spread but he didn't like my name being slandered. He was raised differently than most with morals and valves I could appreciate.

He nodded and left my room. I stared at the envelope not wanting to open it but at the same time dying to know what he had written. Letters were our only connection to the world outside of the lives we lived here. But not knowing what this letter would say and probably cause the hole in my chest to tear open anew, I was hesitant. I had so many questions running through my mind – _Why now? What did this mean? Was he reiterating what he said in the forest the last time I saw him? Did he want me to know that it was a mistake that his family came and saw me in Florida and it wouldn't happen again? _

I set the letter down next to me on the bed, not wanting to open it yet. I was lost in thoughts that I knew I would regret. Memories that seemed like a life time ago started overtaking all other thoughts. His crocked smile. His Bronzed hair after running. His eyes that could melt my heart. His voice that sounded like velvet when he said my name. The feel of his lips on mine and the electricity that I felt with his touch.

Tonight would be hard because the nightmares would always be worse when I let my mind relive these memories. Most of the time the soldiers heard my screams and thought it was about the horrors of war I was having nightmares about. Bubba always worried about me having nightmares and wanted to have me get help. I always refused because I knew I couldn't talk to anyone about what the nightmares where really about.

Thinking about how it will be tonight made me look at the letter again. If I already was going to have a hard time tonight I might as well get this over with and deal with what the letter said as well. Slowly opening the back of the envelop, I pulled out the letter and unfolded it. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath before I opened my eyes again to read,

_Bella,_

_In writing this letter my hope is that you are reading my words. Please keep reading because I desperately need you to know the truth. The truth is that **I LIED.** Eight years ago when I told your that I didn't love you, it was the very blackest kind of blasphemy._

_The only reason I lied was to protect you and keep you safe. I knew that you weren't going to let go and even though it felt like it would kill me to do it, I had to make you believe that I didn't want you. To not love, want or need you everyday of my existence is the most absurd, ridiculous concept ever._

_The last eight years you have been in my every thought every minute of every day. If you and your heart are still willing to see me again I will do anything for a chance to just be in your presence. Nothing I can do will every make up for what you have been though since we left. If I live one hundred thousand years, I will try and make it up to you, if you grant me one chance._

_I will understand if you choose to never speak to me again. That is your right, but please know my family never wanted to leave. They fought my decision and love you as a daughter and a sister. If you allow them to try and make up for everything in the past eight years, they would be eternally grateful. This action towards my family would be more than I deserve and would be willing to leave if that is what you wish._

_There is an important matter we need to talk to you about when you return and we hope that you can be open to listen at least. We all know that this is hard for you, and just want you to know that we all love and care about you even if we haven't shown it._

_My hope is this letter allows you to have time to think over everything before you return. You are part of our family, whichever choice you make, we will understand you decision either way._

_I will always love you and only you, Forever._

_Edward_

My tears ran down my cheeks and I could turn them off. My emotions where going haywire with the main one confusion. With my sight blurred with tears I reread this letter dozens of times to make sense of what it was saying.

That night while I slept, the nightmares stayed away and I had a peaceful sleep. The next day was the unit loading equipment up to head home. In less than two weeks I would be home and then I will have to face my past again.

**Edward's POV**

After the family meeting, it took me over two days to write the letter to Bella. I was having a hard time with the greeting let alone the important part of the letter. I wanted to start with My Dearest Bella, then My Bella, and Jasper nixed those, saying I could think of her that way before we got to talk to her. He suggested Sgt Swan and I could do that with this type of letter. We finally agreed on just Bella. Everything I wrote just didn't seem adequate and wishing I could do this in person.

Finally with Alice's help we got the letter finished and sent. After it was sent, we sat down at the table again to discuss Victoria. With Alice being blind we had to cover all bases.

We agreed that Alice and Jasper needed to head to Washington to check on Charlie and make sure Victoria wasn't there. Carlisle and Esme stayed in New York making sure that if anything new changed with Bella in the military we could know right away. Rose, Emmett and I started tracking and hunting Victoria the best we could.

Everyday got more frustrating for us. We checked in with the others and let them know that we kept hitting dead ends in finding Victoria. Rose and Emmett kept me focused on the task at hand because I would start getting sidetracked with my thoughts of Bella returning home.

"Bro, I know you want to see Bella as soon as possible, but we need to take Victoria down so Bella can be safe. Just focus on opening a can of whoop ass on Victoria and use that to drive you" He laughed but was still worried about finding nothing.

Rose surprised me the most. Her determination on tracking and killing Victoria was fierce. Her attention to detail and innovative ideas kept leading us to new information while tracking. One night while tracking in the south, she actually wanted to go to Texas on a side trip to see where Bella had been living. Emmett gave me a look of confusion about his wife's request but I just shrugged my shoulders and agreed. I was also curious about Bella's life in Texas but was trying to not get distracted from the hunt.

When we got to Bella's house we when to the back door and Rose picked the lock to let us in. Her smell was strong and made my knees buckle under me. I stayed there getting used to the scent of her again and realizing my memory didn't remember it this strong. Rose starred at me and then huffed while walking around.

"Dude, you are so whipped. Bella's not even here and just her smell brings you to your knees. That is some kinda power to see a strong vampire become so weak by just a smell of a human." He was trying to be funny but was completely honest. She was the only one that made me feel like I had no strength. Everything about her made me weak and had a hard time fighting the truth now.

"Get up Edward and start looking for anything that might help us." Rose bluntly scowled.

"Rose what are you talking about. Why would anything in Bella's house help us track Victoria?" I wanted to know Rosalie real purpose here.

"Edward, something isn't right. I can't explain it but when I looked into Bella's eyes at the funeral something looked too familiar to me. Maybe it was nothing but if I had to desribe what I saw, she had a cold calculated plan for revenge. And we know the vision Alice saw but I can't figure out how Bella might know that her parents weren't killed by an accidental house fire" She was thinking of Bella at the funeral before Bella spoke to the family.

From her memories of the day I could see what she was talking about. That look I had seen in Roses eyes after her change and remember how she had almost died. But the image of Bella with that look in her eye's scared me. She was so fragile and innocent when I was in her life and to see her now made me scared she would do something that could kill her.

Whatever has caused this change in Bella I wanted to know. She seemed different but the same. Rose did have a point about finding clues to understand that maybe Bella had other problems in her life besides the Victoria.

I got up and started searching for things that didn't fit in a normal human home. Emmett decided to head to the basement to look around and after a few seconds called both me and Rose downstairs.

Looking around the basement I noticed what Emmett had called us down for. The basement looked like it was missing a room back in the corner of the area. To most people it would have gone unnoticed. After all the remodeled homes that I helped Esme with and the redesigned blueprints I had gone over, it was easy for me to spot. We saw a hairline slit along the wall from floor to ceiling on two sides of the corner.

Scrutinizing the area to find a trigger we found it near the brick work and pressed it to reveal the hidden room. All three of us stood frozen at the sight before us. It was a vault type room with thick metal surrounding it. The smells that we could identify consisted to a variety of explosives, gunpowder and metal. It was an arsenal of weapons and destructive devices.

The thoughts of my siblings brought me back to normal **"WOW that is some heavy shit for little sis to have?"** Emmett was impressed at the collection he say.

"**Why would Bella have this stuff if she didn't need it? She has all this for a reason Edward. She needs it for something, but what I don't know."** Rose was right about other issues that Bella's has in her life. I just didn't know what. And all of these things in this room were extremely dangerous and deadly. How could she be so stupid as to think she could use these things and not die.

I growled at the thought of her surrounding herself with dangerous things like these. All I wanted to do was destroy all of these things and started moving towards that idea. Rose grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Edward, you can't do this. Bella hates us right now. We have already invaded her privacy and we can't understand why this is here, but we can't take it without understanding what is behind her having it. We have to earn her trust back and we can't do that if we make decision about what is best for her without her knowledge. We did that last time and look what happened." Rose hit below the belt with that last statement.

I took a deep breath and looked again into the room. It scares me to the core to know that Bella had this here but everyone was right. Bella has changed and as much as I hated it Rose was right.

We closed it back up and left Bella's house. I wanted to talk to Bella and get her to tell me what she needed all of that for. What was such a treat that would drive her to that extreme. I started worrying that Bella had more problems over the past eight years than I could have thought. I had to fix this and give her peace again.

**Alice's POV**

Jasper and I stayed at our house in Forks checking the area for any signs of Victoria and we always made sure Charlie was safe. Everyday I worked on getting a vision to help the family in our task of killing Victoria and helping my best friend. Edward, Rose and Emmett called at least once a day hoping for something, even though they knew I would call if I got a location on Victoria. Esme called worried about us and missing the family but she knew that this separation was necessary.

Jasper was on his laptop a lot here doing research on Bella's life but it started to feel like he was keeping something from me. That was not like him and every time I would ask about it all he would say is "It's not my place to say" and I knew that he was not telling me everything because of his belief in letting others tell their own story.

It was still hard to not know more about Bella's life. I have missed her so much since we left that it hurt to know she changed so much and I wasn't involved. It has been weeks since we had seen her and I knew we had more time to wait. It was hard to be patient but I knew I had too. After helping Edward write the letter and understanding more of what he said to her when we left, made me hate that Edward lied to her, but more than anything made me understand why she was so cold to us in Florida.

One Friday afternoon in May, Carlisle called us to let us know that Bella's address had just changed to Colorado and we all would be meeting up in the airport in Denver that evening. I was so happy to know she was back I was jumping up and down at this news. Jasper and I packed quickly, checked on Charlie one last time and left for Seattle to hop on a plane.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

Chapter 8: Welcome Home

Bella's POV

Coming home to Texas after the deployment felt great. The stress that has followed me for so long lifted completely off my shoulders when I stepped into my house back in the states. My house was sold last month and I was ready to pack up and get to Colorado as soon as I could. Packing took no time at all and sealing up my weapons hold was easy enough. All my buddies had planned our ritual coming home party of drinking, dancing and clubbing the first Friday we were at home.

Finishing up the closing on my new home in Colorado was thrilling. I found a house that was about an hour away from base in the mountains. It was secluded and beautiful. Way too big for me but I felt I deserved it. For the price I got it for a steal and it had the best garage for the cars I had and planned on buying. I had my Audi R8 that was used for my everyday use. Over the last few years Jacob's love for cars rubbed off and we decided to work together restoring a 1966 Cobra which we finished in Texas a few years ago. The blood, sweat and tears I put into fixing up my Cobra made it very special too me. I planned on picking up a truck and motorcycle in Colorado after I got there.

The house was log style two story with a porch that wrapped around the house with a balcony off the bedrooms on the second floor. It had 3 fireplaces and a jacuzzi off the back. Everything about this house was perfect. I got everything moved and set up in the two weeks I had for the move. It was May when I moved, springtime in Colorado was breathtaking.

I reported to my new duty station 3 weeks after getting back to the states. I planned on decorating this house and making it my own. I knew that my 30 days mandatory leave would be soon so I could get a lot done and still have time to visit Charlie and the pack.

Bubba and the rest of the gang, that moved up here, planned this Friday for another ritual night in Denver to have fun and see what the nightlife was like here. Getting acquainted with the new unit was a little harder. Most of the single soldiers tried to be more than just friends but I shot them down just like the rest.

I figured out along time ago that I couldn't move on after Edward left. Plus with my new "Freak" status as Jacob said it was hard to have someone in my life that might figure out too much about me. My policy with dating soldiers in the military was that I didn't want to have a relationship interfere with my duties. I know they are all sad excuses but I have been so focused on my fight with Victoria that nothing else mattered.

Friday night at the clubs in Denver was a blast. Bubba ended up taunting some college kids who were talking shit and then the college kids offered up a drinking challenge. Bubba and the rest of my unit "volentold" me because they all found out the hard way that I could drink anyone under the table. Mostly due to the fact that alcohol didn't effect me so, I just had to act drunk later so others wouldn't get suspicious. After about 2 bottles of Tequila and wads of bets that I won, I told them all to call a cab to get home and I was heading home. It was 2 am so the night was done. Driving home was peaceful and I found the night was beautiful away from the city lights.

Less than a mile away from my house, I got a strong sense of 7 individuals surrounding my house up the road. I stop my car and closed my eyes to feel what was ahead. Over my years in the military I found I had a ability to sense hostile people with pinpoint accuracy based on distance and positions. That was a huge help as a sniper which help me get better at training with my new ability.

The feeling I was getting was that the individuals were not hostile and perfectly still in several positions around my property. Running through possibilities my mind locked down on the most likely...the Cullen's. The letter stated they had something important to talk to me about when I returned, I just didn't imagine it would be so soon. I wasn't prepared to deal with them yet and needed a way to delay this talk.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, registered the perfect excuses...I'm Drunk!!! So I just have to make my acting really good so they know how bad off I am and they can't talk to me until I am sober. That should give me a little while to think.

I started heading towards the house again and when I got near to my garage I parked half way on my back lawn. Opening the door to my car and stumbling out while laughing. Tripping on the steps up to the porch and fumbling with my keys to unlock my door. I could still sense them around me and did notice a light growl far behind me in the woods. I decided I need to get inside and "pass out" in my bed so I could think of what to do next.

When I got to my bed, they still hadn't moved from their original positions. I stayed in my clothes and started to compose myself to think of how to handle this in the best manner. Part of me wanted to scream and yell at them all. The other part of me wanted to handle it in the shortest way possible so they could leave and I could be alone.

I didn't know how to handle Edward after the letter I received. Not knowing what was the truth and what was a lie anymore. My feeling for Edward had not diminished, but I wasn't going to set myself up again for more pain.

Throughout the night movement around my house kept me awake and alert. They were meeting up two at a time and talking. I couldn't heard what they were saying but I knew I was the topic of discussion.

Soon I looked at the clock and it was 4:30 in the morning, normal wake up time. I made up my mind that I would try and keep it short but with my emotions right now it could easily turn into the screaming and yelling.

Getting up and taking a shower to relax before this little meeting, then changing into a tan turtleneck sweater and dark boot cut jeans. I still had the bit marks scars from Laurent and Victoria, which would raise too many questions today.

Heading downstairs I kept close tabs on the perimeter of the property waiting for some movement toward the house. It didn't take long before 2 of the Cullen's headed towards my front door.

After a soft knock on my door I went to open it. Carlisle and Esme were on the other side.

"Good Morning, Bella. Can we please come in and talk to you about something very important?" Carlisle was being pleasant as normal. Esme was at his side smiling but had sadness in her eyes.

"You are more than welcome to come in and the other 5 members of your family who have been on guard duty around the perimeter of my property may also come in since they have been out there for over 12 hours and probably want a break." I started walking back into the house leaving the front door open for them.

Heading towards the kitchen, I heard Carlisle and Esme following me inside and a few seconds later I heard more joining them. I opened the frig and wanted to get something to drink. I smiled at an idea when I saw some beer I kept for my military buddies when they came over. Grabbing one I opened it and headed back to my living room.

Everyone came in and Jasper and Edward were standing against the wall near the door. Alice was looking like she wanted to tackle me in a hug but held back. The rest were seated around my living room. I came in and sat in a chair taking a swig of the beer.

Edward had a disapproving look on his face while watching me and Carlisle had more of a confused look.

"Bella, why are you drinking a beer at 5:30 in the morning?" Edward asked with a hard tone.

"Hair of the dog" as I tipped the beer towards him. He had a frown but didn't say anything.

"I bet you need that after all the Tequila you drank last night. What was it 2 bottles?" Emmett asked laughing.

"Around that, but I was the last one standing and walked away with about $500.00 worth of bets, so it was worth it" I said back to Emmett. "But lets get to the point of why you all are here. From the letter I read and the Guard duty you all did last night I know that whatever you need to tell me is coming after me." I pointed out the basics.

"Bella, I know we have no right to interfere in your life now but we feel that this issue that has arisen is our fault so we wanted to protect you from this threat." Carlisle was trying to break this to me softly, which wasn't my style now.

"I appreciate your efforts to tell me this in the easiest way possible, Carlisle but I just want to know the facts. Who is after me and why?" I was trying to get them out of here quickly.

"Alice had a vision before your parents died of Victoria and we believe she is coming after you to kill you after all these years" He looked pained telling me this.

I couldn't help it, I laughed after he said this. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "Bella this isn't funny, we are serious" Edward was getting agitated

Now they care!!! Great this is just great. I tried to keep my cool and think of a good enough answer so they could leave me alone.

Alice looked at me with pleading eyes and then said "I have only seen her that once and we had no idea that she would come after you Bella. We are here to stop her and we have been trying to hunt her down for weeks before you got home." what she said made me think.

"You have only seen here once? A few weeks ago? What the hell?" was all I could say.

"Bella, I know this is hard for you but we will find her and kill her you don't have to worry about her for much longer" Edward sounded confident in his answers.

"Well I am sorry that you have already wasted time before I came home but you don't need to worry about Victoria. She has been taken care of" I said.

"What do you mean she has been taken care of Bella? Is she dead? Are you sure?" Jasper was the one addressing me now.

"Yes, I am sure she is dead, so now that this matter has been handled, you have no more obligations here. Take care and you can see your way out." I was done with this conversation before it got into too many details.

"Hold on, we just spent weeks searching all over this continent for Victoria, trying to protect you and your throwing us out without giving us anything else then "She's dead" Rosalie hissed at me.

My control slipped "First of all, I didn't ask for you to protect me, I have taken care of myself fine the past eight years. Second, what you do with your time is your decision always has been so don't you dare try say it was for me. And third, this is my house and what I tell you is my choice." I stood up and headed towards the door to let them out.

Edward grabbed my arm to stop me as I passed him. "Please Bella we just want to talk to you. Rose didn't mean to be so rude. Can you please just talk to us?" he was practically begging me to agree.

"Edward, there is no point in talking to all of you because you never heard me eight years ago. Things have changed and I can't knowingly talk to people that lie, keep things from me, disregard my opinions and discard me. You all have looked down upon me and thought you knew what was best for me without including me in anything. I have worked too damn hard to deal with this bullshit again, Edward. I know that talking to you will be a wasted effort because you all walked away from me but call me your family. Family doesn't leave people they care about to go through the hell I have been through." I took a deep steady breath then continued. "I am done with the games and will not deal with people that don't see me as their equal, which I know won't happen here. So please just leave and go back to your lives and distractions" I knew that I had said the last one to make my point clear.

Edwards face reflected pain and agony but I couldn't let it get to me. "Bella, please I am so sorry for everything and we all just want you back in our family. I can't apologize enough for when we left you, it was the biggest mistake of my life." He looked like he wanted to cry.

"Edward, I have found people don't need to apologize if they tell the truth. I don't want any apologize I want the truth." I didn't want his guilt to keep eating at him.

"The truth is that we all love you and have been miserable since we left. Our lives have been hell too and we just want you to accept us back." Edward said to me.

"That may be the truth Edward but it was you and your families choice to leave. I never had a choice in that matter. Whatever you have gone through in the last eight year was self inflicted." I was loosing my calm tone and my tone started to elevate.

Then Rosalie came up behind Edward "Why are you being such a bitch, Bella? Why the hell do you have to make this so hard. Can't you see that our family is having a hard time with this already and you are just making it worst" she just pushed me over the edge with that comment.

"Go FUCK yourself Rose. You have no idea what I have gone through since all of you left. I have been fighting every FUCKING day since you left. War after war, battle after battle. I have been to hell and back and laughed in the devils face so why the FUCK do I give a Goddamn about anything you say." I was mad and my language showed it.

"Rose go outside now!" Carlisle stepped in at this point. "Bella please accept my apologies for Roses words, she didn't mean it."

"No need for apologizes for Rose she spoke the truth which she always has. But she has proven my point. This conversation is over and I think it is time for everyone to leave."

"Everyone, let's leave Bella home like she has asked" He looked at the rest of his family and waited until everyone else filed out the door. "Bella, I understand that I have no right to ask but, I definitely understand what you have said and what you have ask from us is only right. Please give us a chance to talk about all you have said and come back and try this again. We want you in our lives and you have asked us to start treating you like we should have years ago. Please Bella give us one last chance." Carlisle was honest in his words.

"I will say this now, you all left as a family so I will only deal with you as a family. Everyone agreed eight years ago to leave me behind and now I will only agree to talk to this family if everyone agrees to respect me. You know this family better than anyone and their personalities, so if you want to get them to see me as something more than a fragile, immature human then I wish you luck because it will take a miracle for that to happen."

"So will you give this one more try?" Carlisle asked.

"One more try but until that day come, please respect my privacy and let everyone know that one on one talks will not happen until that day. And please know that I do love you all but I don't know what is the truth anymore." I was calmer with Carlisle and he smiled at my request and admission for my love toward the family.

"Thank you Bella and we understand what you have asked." He turned and left. I shut the door behind him, leaning against the door and sliding down to the floor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

**Chapter 9: New Perceptions**

**Edward's POV**

Walking out of Bella's house not even 30 minutes after we walked in wasn't what I had hoped. Seeing her for the first time, in person, made me realize how big of a mistake I made all those years ago. She was even more stunning than I remember with her new personal strength made her more alluring than before.

Everyone's thoughts were chaos and I was just trying to go back over everything Bella had said a few minutes ago. I was amazed and shocked at Bella's anger towards Rosalie. The force of her words and the cursing was not what I was prepared for. Rosalie was getting screamed at by Alice right now for her attitude towards Bella and calling Bella a bitch. Emmett was standing in between them trying to calm both of the women down. Jasper was in deep thought next to a tree. His thoughts got me interested in things that he was trying to figure out.

"Everyone can you all stop for a second and hear me out." Carlisle was trying to get our attention. "You all heard that Bella will give us a chance to talk to her again and her requests for privacy and that no one try to talk to her one on one" He specifically looked at me when he said this. "I have never demanded anything from any of you. I have always allowed you all to make your own choices no matter what the outcome is. But after the misery and sadness that had befallen our family since leaving Forks, I have made a choice for the family and I hope you all will consider what I have chosen. Bella **is **my daughter and I will not leave her out in the cold again. If each one of you were honest with yourselves then this issue will not take long to get everyone to agree."

Esme's thoughts where along the same lines as Carlisle. She love Bella as a daughter and has already accepted her no matter what has changed, she still loved her just like she loved us all. "I agree that we need to see her as a member of our family and truly respect her wishes just like we do with everyone here."

The thoughts of Jasper kept me very interested on his new perceptions over the last few months. His guilt about Bella's 18th Birthday was still on his mind but he had a high respect towards her now that was laced with heavy pride.

"Jasper, can you tell us your thoughts on the topic of discussion?" I inquired looking at him.

"From what I know and observed she deserves our respect and she should not have to deal with the secrecy and lies any longer, we owe her the truth and I am damn sure she can handle it, Edward" Jasper's words matches his thoughts.

"I agree with you Jasper, but how did you come to this answer so quickly?" I wanted him to elaborate.

"Over these years I have discovered that my control has strengthened due to my need and when everyone was constantly trying to protect and double check me was when I was at my weakest. Bella is not weak anymore Edward and the sooner we all stop trying to worry about her the quicker you will see she is our equal in more ways than one. Yes she is different, but to the rest of the Vampire world, we are different and are treated as a weaker, ignorant type of Vampire. Prejudice is all around and the only way to stop this is with the truth and acceptance no matter what." When Jasper spoke everyone listened.

The love I felt for Bella made it had to not protect her but I understood what Jasper was saying. I needed her in my life now more than ever.

"Edward, did you mean all the things you wrote her in the letter? If you truly did than Bella has asked one thing from you for the chance you want. The Truth and to be treated as an equal, as someone you love should be treated." Alice had me there.

I need to understand more about Bella's life and wanted to know everything about her. But first we needed to agree as a family to respect her.

**Carlisle's POV**

After leaving Bella's house I knew we had a long debate over this. Bella was right about how hard it will be to get everyone to agree. I knew I had to start with setting the tone with my own opinion on this issue.

Esme agreed with me and Jasper voiced his acceptance toward Bella. Emmett loved Bella as a little sister he never had and was eager to learn what his new little sister has been up to. Alice's had always trusted Bella as her best friend but her internal conflict was about her ability to predict the future and keeping her safe over the truth. Knowing Bella's future was fuzzing did help her finally agree to trust Bella and listen to her opinions more openly.

The two that I knew from the beginning of this conversation that would be the hardest ones were Edward and Rosalie. Talking out and countering all their misconceptions would take awhile. By Sunday morning we were getting more frustrated with them.

Movement at the back door caught all of our attention. Bella came out in exercise clothing and took off on running trail around the back area of the property. Edward immediately wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she was alright, but I stopped him.

"Edward, she wants her privacy and we are not done here. She will be fine." I knew he just wanted a chance to see her again but the sooner we finished this it would be the best.

Ten Minutes later Bella was back on the back patio and looked over to our location far into the trees behind her house. I knew she couldn't see us but it seemed that she knew exactly where we were.

"Carlisle, can I speak to you for a minute." Bella spoke in a normal tone knowing I could hear her. I was in front of the back patio in a few seconds with a smile and offering a "Good Morning".

"Carlisle, you all have been here since yesterday outside, I would like to offer you and the family the option to stay in the apartment above the garage until you decide to leave. It might not be as big as you are used to but I wanted to make the offer. Also, if you need to get anything while you are here I will understand if you leave. Don't let me be an inconvenience to your family." she was very generous with her offer and I could see some things didn't change over the years.

"Thank you for the offer and we don't need anything right now, but we appreciate your concern. You are never an inconvenience and we a very grateful that you have allowed us to stay around." I replied.

"You are welcome Carlisle and I will see you later" Bella turned and went into the house.

I returned to the family and they all heard the offer and was fine with heading to the apartment . The stairway was inside the garage and when we entered, Rose instantly freaked out about the other car in Bella's garage.

"No way, a 1966 Cobra fully restored to original. Where did she find this classic? This is an amazing machine." Rose was stroking the hood like it was a mirage.

"Rose, lets head upstairs. This is Bella's space and we need to leave her stuff alone." I was having a hard time keeping my family focused most of the time.

We headed up to the 3 bedroom apartment and it had some furniture but not much. We knew Bella just moved in to this house so we didn't expect anywhere to sit down up here. When we all got settled we started trying to work on the issue again.

**Rosalie's POV**

The way I reacted to Bella inside, I knew I was out of line. But nothing was making sense to me from everything I had learned about the new Bella.

The way she dismissed us with no answers to any questions was infuriating. ARRGHH!!! I just reacted and then got her wraith right back at me. And her use of the "F" word was the most shocking. All of us curse but Esme finds it very offending so we keep it to a minimum. I just wanted answers and she just wanted respect.

If I was being honest with myself, this new Bella was earning my respect but I couldn't show this to the others. Argument after argument over the last 2 days had been shot down by one of the members of my family. It was heated most of the time but I was breaking down slowly.

I knew if I caved, Edward would soon follow and we could finally get answers we all wanted. Emmett was trying to smooth things over and I knew he just wanted me to admit what he already knew, I could respect Bella. He knew me too well. During the hunt over the past few weeks he had figured it out but now I was just being stubborn.

One Monday, after we all finally agreed to accept Bella and tell the truth, Carlisle said we had another issue to discuss.

"Now that this is handled, which I am very happy we could all do, there is something that needs to be brought up. Eight years ago, Bella expressed her desire to be changed into a Vampire. We need to solve this matter before talking to her. If she still wants this we all need to be on the same page. Lets see where everyone stands with a yes or no." Carlisle started with Esme.

"Yes it is the only right thing to do if that is what she still wants" Esme didn't want to lose Bella again.

"Definitely" Emmett ecclesiastically said like always

"I knew then it would happen so if her mind is still made up on that path then of course" Alice chirped

"She is a part of our family either way so yes" Jasper answered.

Carlisle vote was a yes and then it came down to me and Edward again. I kept my eyes locked with Edward so he understood what I was saying. "If she truly want to be a vampire I have no problems with it but I will also make my opinions and suggestions before it can happen so she know what she is getting into with her eyes open"

Edward was hesitant before speaking. "Jasper has pointed out throughout the last few days that Bella has seen life and death first hand. I want to understand more about her but I also have realized that I don't want to loose her again. Bella and I will need to discuss this option more but for this purpose...I vote Yes" Edward whispered the last part and I knew it was hard for him to say.

"So we are all agreed on this last topic. I heard Bella leave for work about 3 hours ago so we will need to wait until she gets home to talk to her. Let's all go hunt now before she get's home." Carlisle was beaming with pride and happiness.

**Bella's POV**

Monday morning I drove to base after the stressful weekend with the Cullen's. I was thinking a lot about what happened on Saturday and what the next steps will be. Right now the ball was in their court and I could only assume they would need awhile to figure out what I asked from them.

I drove home after the normal day in my new unit and was told of the mandatory military ball after the 30 days leave. I always hated that they ordered us to have fun at functions like this. But an order is an order no matter what I had to do.

When I got to the house, I was surprised to see the family waiting on the back patio at the table set. Heading towards the house in my combat uniform, I noticed Edward look at me with like he was seeing me for the first time. I could only assume that he hadn't fully understood what my life was now until today.

Upon reaching the patio they all stood to greet me, this was something I wasn't used to. I made eye contact with each one of them and could see the change I was hoping for, acceptance. I smiled after surveying all of them and in the same moment is when I has hit by the little pixy so quickly it knocked me to the ground as she hugged me.

"Alice I have missed you too but we could do this standing up" laughing at her excited greeting. She helped me up and before I could even brush off my uniform I was wrapped in a bear hug off the ground by Emmett.

"Emmett, I just told Alice that this can be done standing up" hugging him back and giggling.

"I am standing up Bella" Emmett booming laugh was intoxicating. He finally set me down and Esme pulled me to her in a motherly hug. "We have missed you so much Bella."

"Just me a minute to deal with all the hugging, it's been awhile." I smiled at her when she let me go.

Carlisle was next to give me a one armed hug around the shoulders "Forgive us, we just are this way with family we haven't seen in so long" he was happy to feel he could include me again.

"Bella, can I get a hug. It would be an honor from the owner of a 1966 Cobra" Rose smiled and walked forward to give he a small hug.

"I am glad I could win you over with my project car" I laughed.

"Wait, are you telling me you restored that beauty in your garage?" Rose was dying to know.

"I had help but yes that baby is my creation" I smiled realizing that Rose and I finally had something to talk about together.

I looked at Jasper and I could tell me wanted to hug me but was holding back. I walked to him and looked at his eyes. They were golden and he didn't show one sign of him having difficulty with me so close. Taking the initiative I hugged him and he was stiff so I made it quick. He smiled but we didn't say anything else.

Then I looked at Edward. "You and I have a lot to hash out before things can move forward and I will warn you now, you will be in a world of hurt if you slip back into that old mindset. Let try to start out fresh and see where it goes. Things have changed and we both need to understand more about each other first." I wanted to try and take it slow, he hasn't total realize everything about me yet.

"That's fine with me. I will do my best to keep an open mind but feel free to say anything you want to if you feel the need." He was trying but I knew that he couldn't change overnight.

"Oh! Don't worry about me. I always make my point perfectly clear now." I smiled and invited them inside. This was going to be a long night of questions.

I excused myself to change out of my uniform. Taking a quick shower and jumping into another turtleneck sweater and jeans. When I went back downstairs I held up my hand to show them to wait with the questions. "Let me throw something in the microwave to eat and I will be right back." Esme beat me to the kitchen asking if I wanted her to make something for me. "Esme, I appreciate it and maybe later but frozen dinners aren't that bad compared to the food in the field. It will only take a few minutes to heat up." I grabbed some kinda pasta dinner and threw it in to cook.

With my dinner in hand I walked back to the living room for the interrogation I knew was coming. "OK, you all look like you could burst at the seams with questions so as long as I get one at a time I should be fine." Taking a bit of my cardboard entree.

"Bella, do you have a security system, camera, or sensors in this house?" Jasper jumped in with an odd question. Laughing I told him no but realizing why he was asking this.

"You are wondering how I knew on Saturday that Carlisle and Esme weren't the only two here and how I knew the rest of you were around the property. The only answer I can tell you is that my training has helped me know those kinda things especially when I concentrate on the vicinity" I didn't know how to explain it correctly.

"Interesting, but when you got home you were trashed. Did you just guess we were out there all night?" He was asking questions that I knew would start getting trickier to answer.

"Even drunk, sleep deprived, or under extreme situations I still know. It has helped me in a lot of situations and made my job easier." I tried explaining it without giving a lot away.

Alice asked the inevitable question next, "What is your job in the military?" Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Jasper wince so I had a feeling he already knew and didn't let the others know. I really couldn't blame him this was going to be hard for the rest of the family to swallow. I was extremely proud of my jobs while in the service but others didn't see it the same way.

"Well Alice, I have been a sniper for the past 4 years and before that I was EOD with airborne training." Bluntness always worked best with hard subjects. Just as expected gasps all around and silence. Tick, tick, tick...how long until the silence is finally broken.

Emmett finally spoke "What is EOD?" which was a valid question.

"EOD stands for Explosives Ordnance Disposal. I got to play with a lot of things that went BOOM, Emmett." I was trying to lighten the mood.

Knowing Edwards reaction would be the worst I looked over to him and noticed he was calm. But it was a forced calm and he wanted to say the things I knew that were ingrained in him from the first day we met. Overprotective Edward was trying to break through and then we would get into it.

This will be a night of discovering the new me!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

**Author's Notes:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. Also thank you for all the hits on this story.

**Genuinef250: **I know it's hard, but yes your questions will be answered soon with the next few chapters. I don't want to spoil the story...sorry.

"_Well Alice, I have been a sniper for the past 4 years and before that I was EOD with airborne training." _

"_What is EOD?" _

"_EOD stands for Explosives Ordnance Disposal. I got to play with a lot of things that went BOOM, Emmett." _

Chapter 10: Shock Factor

**Edward's POV**

My mind was filled with the thoughts of my family after they found out what Bella had been doing in the military for the last 8 years...

Rosalie: _**"She is a killer for the government, I can't believe it. She just told us she kills people and is acting like it is no big deal! She is acting like she is proud of this fact!!!"**_

Alice:_** "This doesn't sound like Bella. She never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings let alone kill them. I can't believe this is true."**_

Emmett:_** "She knows how to blows stuff up...COOL"**_

Esme: _**"What has made Bella want to do those kind of jobs. She could have picked anything. Is this what she wanted to do?"**_

Carlisle: _**"Well,she is a solider and so I can see she is proud of her choices and her life."**_

Jasper:_** "EDWARD...Listen to me. Please let her talk more before you say anything. I can feel the guilt, rage and sadness from you. We all need to hear her out first so stay calm. Don't blow up at her. I know you want to but you need to understand first. I am pretty sure she has a good reason, if I am right about this."**_

Jasper was helping me stay calm but he was blocking his other thoughts. I could tell he has known for a while and from the last three days he has been trying to figure out some mysteries of Bella's life.

No one had said anything for a few minutes. Bella was giving us time to absorb this new information before continuing. I knew I had to get control of myself, she was watching me, expecting my reaction to be bad. I am sure my face showed a calm exterior but I felt like I wanted to explode. I also knew Jasper was right, I wouldn't get answers if I told her how stupid and reckless that was. She promised she wouldn't do anything like that, how could she break that promise.

She could have very easily died doing those things. This explains the hidden room full of explosives and guns in Texas. But, she was a "danger magnet" in Forks, now she is surrounds herself with things that go BOOM!!! What is she thinking.

"Well from your reactions, I can tell you guys didn't know. That brings to one question, Alice haven't you seen what I have been doing the last 8 years?" Bella finally broke the silence in the room.

"Bella, we didn't know, honestly I have been trying to see your future for years and all I get is foggy images with movement but I can't make out anything." Alice replied to Bella with a sharp glare at me.

"_**Don't you dare say a word to me about breaking my promise to not look into Bella's future Edward."**_ Alice shouted at me in her mind, making me flinch.

Bella noticed the look Alice gave me, "So I am guessing Edward didn't want you to look into my future then. Well, that explains a lot more about why you guys just **now** showed up. I just thought you didn't give a shit about me."

I had to say something, "Bella we just wanted to let you have a normal human life. I didn't want us to interfere with your life so, you could have the life you deserved." Jasper was worried about something but still blocking his thoughts from me.

"Dear, we have always loved you and have thought about everyday since we left Forks." Esme was trying to reassure Bella.

"Well, I guess I have been living a normal life and deserved every minute of it" Bella made it sound like she had the exact opposite experience of her statement.

Jasper had a confused look on his face "What exactly does that mean, Bella?" He made it sound like he didn't believe her.

"It means that I need to make a pot of coffee and this will be a long night." Bella headed towards the kitchen.

**Jasper's POV**

After Bella went to the kitchen, Edward asked me what she is feeling.

"I don't know. It's like she isn't there. I can't feel anything coming off her. It has been baffling me ever since she screamed at Rose. I knew I should be feeling her anger but I felt nothing but what Rose was sending me." That is one thing I can't figure out. Something has changed dramatically since Forks when Alice and I could use our gifts on Bella. Now we both get little to no reading.

"What do you mean, Jasper? She has to be feeling something, right?" Edward was as dumbfounded as I was.

"Edward, we need to know what has happened the past eight years. The clues to a lot of our questions might be in her history. Just let her tell us at her own pace and the more detail we can get the more we might understand." I wanted everyone to understand more about why Bella being a solider is an honor not the horrible things they all assumed.

About then Bella came back with a cup of coffee in hand and smile at me. "So Jasper, I can tell from the funeral and the most recent conversations that you might have been in the military also?" Bella was observant as usual.

"Once upon a time I was a Major in the Confederate Army. It was a short-lived military career." I replied. She just nodded her head towards me in understanding and sat down.

"If at anytime you feel uncomfortable about anything I say, please feel that you can leave and not hurt my feelings. Reliving a soldiers life even in stories can be hard." She was worried about upsetting me but, I was honestly more curious of this modern military.

"Thank you for that consideration but my memories have faded over the years. It won't be uncomfortable at all for me. If you need to stop, we will understand also. Somethings are harder to tell others about." I wanted her to tell us when she was comfortable.

Carlisle reiterated with "We have plenty of time so we don't want to rush you and cause any additional pain from telling your story. We have all done things that others don't always see the same way we do."

"I have no issue with telling everything to you but I know that it might take awhile to get to everything. I hope you all can get a better idea of who I am and what I have done before I tell you about all the major changes in my life." Bella was cautious about our new effort to treat her as an equal.

**Bella's POV**

Taking a sip of my coffee (not for the caffeine, that has no effect on me) which I have found I enjoyed a good cup of coffee with a strong flavor and warmth. Glancing around at the Cullen's, stopping at Rosalie's face which was in a hard grimace and disgust.

"Rosalie, I can see you have an opinion you want to share, go ahead." Her comments have always been blunt and she never sugar-coated anything, which I like.

"We all just agree to respect you but this is hard to deal with. You kill people and we have tried for centuries to not kill innocent people. How are we supposed to react?" Rose was holding back.

How can I communicate this to them? "As a sniper, the most prominent fact of my job is that I kill people. There are aspects of my job that, as vampires, you may be able to understand better. First, is that snipers use fear as a weapon against enemies to help win battles. I have seen you all use fear in different ways to get humans to not get too close or stop pursuit of the "What if" fact. By stopping one key person from killing hundreds of innocent people sends fear to the others who wish to do the same. Others have no idea where I am and as you all know the unknown, unfamiliar, and unseen instills fear which most of the time causes them to run. Another aspect is I have witnessed hardworking innocent men, woman and children killed for no reason. If you all could stop hundreds of people from dying with killing a few purely evil men , would you? I look at my job as saving people not killing people. I have saved innocent people caught in the middle of the war, enemy troops who run out of fear to live another day, and the most important in my brothers in arms. So yes, Rosalie I do kill people, but most are not innocent. As to your reaction, then look at your self and ask the same thing when I first knew what you where. How did I react?"

"Bella, you can't scare anyone, how can anyone fear you? Not even a little puppy is scared of you." Emmett chuckled with a grin

"When I am on a mission, no one can see where I am. Most the time I am over ½ mile away in total concealment. They don't know if I am the size of you or Alice. And most of the time just knowing that I can kill them with one shot and they can't shot back, causes them hide or run." I knew they would have a hard time seeing me as anything then the shy, clumsy, girl from Forks.

"But why did you decided on doing this? Killing is still killing and you could have done anything besides this." Rose asked me.

Here comes the cryptic side of me until they know about everything. "Almost all the choices in my life have been taken away from me. The direction in my life was not a choice, it was my destiny. Ideally, my life shouldn't have included taking others lives away and I wish I could have not needed to. I have learned how precious life is and that fate doesn't give you a choice. You just have to deal with it the best way you can." I closed my eyes and yawned.

"You are saying you had no choice and that you didn't want to take lives. So, what happened that brought you down this path?" Edward eyes showed guilt and pain like I had never seen in him before.

"Edward, since you have met me, when has anything happened that made any sense? What happened that bought us together and when has a vampire and a human ever fallen in love? The odds of my life after you and the rest of the family leaving being normal was not in the stars." I looked around the room again. "I know that we have a lot more to talk about and I will tell you what happened, I promise. Tomorrow morning I need to go to base for a few hours just to sign out on leave. After that we will have plenty of time to talk and get all of the questions answered. I need to head to bed." I yawned again.

"Of course, Bella, we didn't mean to keep you up. Please dear head to bed. We will be here" Esme came over and gave me a hug before I started up stairs. I turned back to the family, "I have no problem with you all making yourselves at home here. Also just to let you know I am a very light sleeper so don't be surprised if I wake up if you come into my room."

"Thank you and we will stay out of your room so you can get some sleep." Carlisle looked over at Edward. I knew that if Carlisle didn't say it out loud for me to hear Edward would be in my room tonight. We all needed to hear what has happened over the last 8 years, especially me. I had my own questions for Edward about the letter and what he had been doing after he left.

Heading to bed, I was more relaxed than the prior few days. I got into some sweats and fell asleep without too much on my mind. Tomorrow afternoon I will begin to go over everything but tonight was a shocking revelation for them. My mind was starting to over think things too much as I laid there. I need to slow down.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz my alarm clock telling me it was another day. I don't even remembering falling asleep and it felt like I didn't even sleep that long. Today I skipped running my curcuit like normal. Instead I headed to shower and change into my uniform. We didn't have a workout on base today due to the units leave was starting.

Heading down stairs I was greeted with a smile from Esme with a cup of coffee in her hand for me.

"I wasn't sure if you ate breakfast this early, so Jasper suggested just to make you a cup of coffee for the road." I had to smile. Esme wanted to do everything she could for me.

"Thank you Esme. This is just perfect to start my day. It's weird being taken care of like this, but nice at the same time." The coffee smelt perfect.

"We will be heading to Denver for some items, do you need us to get you anything Bella?" Esme was always thinking of others.

"Actually, can you drop off my uniform to the dry cleaners? Let me go grab it from the closet." I set down my coffee and ran to my room to grab it. When I got to my room I saw Alice in my closet going through my clothes. "Alice, what are you doing?" She poked her head out of my closet and smiled.

"You have so many cute clothes and I wanted to see what you had so we could build on it" She was so happy. I had forgotten how much she obsessed over clothes.

"I need to get my uniform out of there, please" I walked around her to grab it.

"Why do you need that? Jasper told me you only wear that for special occassions." Alice was looking at my dress blues in a way that scared me.

"I am getting them dry cleaned because I need them after I get back off leave. I can see that look in you eye Alice, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!! My uniform is not to be altered or changed in any way got it?" This uniform costs too much money to have the pixie assault it.

"Don't worry Bella, I will make sure she doesn't do anything to it" Jasper said to me from the doorway of my room.

"Thank you Jasper. I need to head out" I started for the door when I was blocked by Alice.

"What's the special occasion you need your uniform for?" Alice inquired

"I have orders that I have to attend the military Ball here after my leave. It no big deal but the command does this mainly for the spouses and signification others." Answering her while passing her in my doorway.

"OH!! A Ball with dancing and stuff. That sounds like fun. Awesome we can do some dress shopping for you." Alice was bouncing again.

"No Alice I have to wear my uniform and I have been ordered to attend not to have fun." Heading down the stairs, handing the uniform to Esme with the name of a local dry cleaners and then out to the garage. I looked back to see Alice was still way too excited about this.

Driving to base thinking about how I was going to start explaining Victoria, the pack, my life in the military and my "freak" classification when I got back home. The one I was most hesitant about what telling them about what I am now.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

**Author's Notes:** This will be mostly Bella's POV for this chapter. Also this chapter might end up longer than normal. Please enjoy and review!

**Chapter 11: The Past can't be changed**

**Bella's POV**

Several hours after reporting to the unit, I finally got to head home for the next month. This new unit like beating a dead horse, we got a long lecture from command about what not to do on leave. Good thing for me they didn't list "Don't talk or spend time with Vampires". Most of the items we were told was common sense, but knowing soldiers, they covered every possible senerio.

Right now, driving up the road to my house I found only one of the Cullen's at my house, actually in the garage. Parking in the garage, I saw Edward was there waiting for me. He was leaned against the wall by the stairs to the apartment. I haven't tried to really look at him for a long period of time afraid of what it might do when they leave again. Damn, he was sexy as hell.

"Hello Edward. You didn't need anything from Denver?" I had a feeling they left him behind so he could talk to me alone.

"I am looking at the only thing I need. I wanted to talk to you alone." He grinned and walked towards me.

I was still standing by my the drivers side door of my Audi as he walked in front of the car to come to my side.

"I can tell how much you have changed. This is an amazing car and fast. I thought you would never have bought this." Brushing his fingers across the hood.

"It's alright. The cobra is my favorite to drive. The power and speed is an orgasm on wheels." I smiled. He laughed and I saw something flash across his eyes that I couldn't describe.

"That's a description I have never heard for a car." He step closer and was inches away.

"So you wanted to talked to me about cars...alone?" My heart rate started to increase with him so close.

"Actually I wanted to talk to you about what I said in the letter. When I wrote the letter to you I didn't know if you were involved and I hope that us being here isn't causing you any hardships with your relationships." He broke eye contact.

"Edward just ask what you want to ask. I don't care if you want to know." I wanted him to say it.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He was still not looking at me.

"Yes It's Bob." I grinned saying this.

"If you want us to leave we can. This is your house and you have all rights do anything you want." He started slowly backing away.

"No need for you to leave. Bob is always here." He looked at me confused. "Edward do you know what Bob stands for?" He has to know this, he's knows everything.

"I am not exactly sure what your asking me." He was watching my expression. I started laughing.

"BOB stands for Battery operated Boyfriend, Edward. Bob and I have had a long relationship and he doesn't get jealous at all." I blushed the first time in years after explaining that to Edward.

The look on his face was priceless. "Would you like to met BOB?" I couldn't help it. I kept laughing.

"No I don't think I need to met BOB. But, it is nice to hear you laugh again. You haven't blushed in almost a week, I am glad you still do." He had regained his composure and stepped towards me again.

I calmed myself down so I could talk again. "Edward, Can I ask something?"

"You can ask me anything" He sounded sincere.

"What are you and your families plans after you leave here? I just want to know if it was alright for me to stay in contact with everyone after you return to your normal lives." I didn't know how this would work but I just wanted to know how long I could keep them in my life now that they came back into it.

"Bella, we have no plans on leaving you like before. The family has talked about this and we won't loose you again, you mean to much to all of us. Esme has already thought about us moving to the house we own in Aspen. We were planning on talking to you about it. But, we will only stay if you want us to." Well, that was better than I hoped.

"We will have to see how things pan out first of course. I am just not sure if you want to stay after you hear everything." I wanted to find the right time to tell them about me but I knew that starting off with it might not be the best.

"Bella, we all love you and no matter what you tell us that won't change." He reached up and brushed the back of his fingers down my cheek. The sparks between us was still there after all these years. He was looking into my eyes and I felt my breathing hitch. "You eyes tell me more about who you are, just like before. But now I can see the wisdom, maturity, and strength in them. You have always amazed me and I don't think I could ever let you go again." His sweet breath was intoxicating.

I stepped back "I think we need to take it slow for now. We both need to deal with things that has happened and time will tell where we go." I turned to head to the house.

"Bella...wait" I turned back. "I can't tell you how sorry I am for lying to you. I can see you don't trust me anymore which I completely understand. I don't care how long it takes I will earn your trust back one day. I will do anything to get you back in my life, I can't live without you." His eyes had so much pain in them it was breaking my heart.

"Edward, I understand that you had to leave. When you love someone you will do anything to protect them. Before I didn't get it, but I do now. Know that I don't blame you so don't blame yourself. Over time and with talking we will be able to trust like before. The past is the past and you can't change it." I looked into his eye to see them relax a little. I need to change the subject.

"So when is the rest of the family due back?" Heading towards the back door again.

"Alice said that they should be here about 30 minutes after you got home." Edward was following me inside. I spun around.

"Hold on. Alice said she couldn't see my future. What the Fuck?" I didn't want to be lied to again.

Edward put up his hands like he was surrendering "She can't Bella. But she can see mine and when it goes fuzzy then she knows you are with me." He had a smug look. "I still can't get over you saying that word. It's something new that kinda caught me off guard."

"Oops. Guess I should have warned you that life in the military has some side effects." I started up to my room to change.

"By the way, Alice also set out some clothes for you to change into." He stayed downstairs.

Opening my bedroom door, on my bed Alice laid out a low cut sweater dress that was a little on the short side. I went to my closet and pulled out a high collar shirt and jeans to change into. I knew I would get grief from Alice but I wanted to be comfortable.

I heard the cars pull in the driveway and started for the kitchen for some food. Before I could even open the refrigerator, Esme was behind me, "We got you some Italian food in Denver, I hope you don't mind." She held out the bag to me.

"Thank you again Esme. That was very nice of you." I opened the bag to see enough food for 4 people. "Is everyone else with you?"

"Yes dear, but Alice is in your room dropping off the bags of clothes she bought for you."

"BELLA, Why aren't you wearing what I put on your bed. Didn't Edward tell you that I picked out your clothes for today?" The shopaholic was standing in my kitchen with her hand on her hip and with a pointed glare at me.

"Yes, Edward told me but I am more comfortable in this. You know I don't like dresses, Alice" she was going to be difficult on this subject.

"But it was in your closet and it would look so good on you. It's not even that cold so why won't you wear it. Please for me" She was giving me the puppy dog eyes.

"Alice, if you must know, I have some scars that I would rather not let everyone see right now." Right as I said that, Edward and Carlisle came into the kitchen.

"Bella, how bad are the scars? How did you get them?" Edward was extremely worried.

"They are old scars and they aren't that bad. They are just scars from some battles. It happens, please don't worry about it. I just don't want other to see them. Please lets just drop it."

"I am a doctor and seen a lot of scars over my life. You don't have to be ashamed of them." Calisle had a soothing tone.

"Please can we just drop it?" I didn't want this to go any further.

"Carlisle and Edward, if Bella is uncomfortable showing you her scars, leave her be. She needs to eat, so drop it." Esme pulled the mother look on both of them and they gave up.

"Thank you again Esme." Giving her a hug and then starting on my lunch/dinner.

Eating a portion of the Italian food and putting the rest in the frig for later, I headed to the living room.

I could hear the whispers stop as I entered the room. "I know that I haven't been very forthcoming with what I have been doing since you last saw me. After telling you all what my jobs have been in the military, your shock told me that this was going to be hard than I initially thought. I want to tell you now, what I have to tell you is unpleasant. You will definitely not like hearing it and I want to tell you before we start, some key things: First, the past is the past and nothing can change it now, Second, I am glad that the things in my life have happened because it has made me who I am today. Third, No one in this room should feel guilty or regret the choices in the past. I love you all and understand more than you know, the sacrifices one will make for a loved one." I sat down in the chair facing all of them.

"Oh and one more thing, if cursing offends anyone I apologize ahead of time." I looked at Esme and she smiled in acknowledgment.

"I will start from the beginning. After you all left I didn't do so well. The first week I was pretty much catatonic. My mother came up to Washington to try and take me to Florida but I didn't want to go. The months after that I was a shell with nothing to live for. I didn't even care if I died or not. If it wasn't for Jacob black and the others at La Push I would be dead." I stopped knowing that Edward was having a hard time with this. "Edward, Stop it right now." He looked at me but the sadness was still there.

"About 6 months after you left I went looking for the meadow Edward and I used to go to. I found it one morning and also found Laurent there." I heard everyone hiss at his name. "Please let me finish" I looked at everyone to see them composed before I continued. "That day was the turning point in my life. Laurent should have killed me that day if it wasn't for the werewolves."

"Wait, werewolves? How do you know that they were werewolves?" Alice asked.

"Because they told me later. Jacob and the rest of the pack are my family and they have saved my ass more than once. Plus they have protected Charlie for me for years." I answered.

"WHAT!!! Do you know how dangerous..." Edward started but I cut him off

"Don't even fucking say it Edward!!! Don't you dare say one negative thing about them. They are my brothers and I will not heard any of that enemy, territory bullshit. You will listen to everything before you judge them, got it!!" I looked him right in the eye with anger as the punctuation.

He must have been getting the same lecture from the rest of his family silently. He sat back into the chair "Sorry I interrupted, please continue" he said.

"I told you this story wasn't pretty. Now, where was I? Oh!!! The meadow. The werewolves chased Laurent off and killed him. He is dead so you can't do anything about that asshole now. After that day things got worse, yes I said worse." I could see that the news was sinking in.

"Now this is where the fun really started for me. About a month after Laurent was killed while visiting in Fork, the red headed Bitch named Victoria stopped by." I knew right as I said it they would react.

"NOOO!!! I shouldn't have left. What was I thinking" Edward was up and looked pissed.

"Why did she come after you?" Rose said immediately.

"We should have killed her right after we were done with James" Emmett looked even more pissed and itching for a fight as Edward.

"Oh my God" Esme placed her hand to her throat in shock.

"I can't believe I didn't see her intentions" Alice was confused.

Jasper just sat there looking at me. He was patient to hear more.

"Shut up and sit down. Nothing can change what I am telling you so calm the hell down so I can tell you the rest." All of them looked at me and I waited for them to sit down again.

"We are so sorry that you had to deal with this by yourself Bella" Carlisle told me.

"Like I said before. I don't want you to feel any guilt and apologize for what has happened doesn't change it now. Please let me finish." Everyone nodded.

"The reason why she came after me, Laurent told me, mate for mate. He also told me she planned on torturing me before killing me. Her plan to torture me, saved my life the first time she came after me."

"The first time?" Jasper asked. "So is that why when we showed up a week ago, you questioned Alice after she said she had only seen her once?" Jasper was studying my reactions closely.

"Yes, Jasper. That is also why I was so cold to you all because for all I knew everyone knew this had happened and never came back to help. It wasn't until Alice told me about her seeing my future as just foggy movements did it accept that you really didn't know." I waited again to let them get over the shock again.

"If we would have know we would have been back as fast as possible to take care of her." Rose was really showing her softer side.

"Do you want me to keep telling you the rest or do you want me to stop?" I looked around to see how well everyone was doing.

"If you are fine then we would appreciate if you could tell us more" Jasper replied.

"Very well. The first time Victoria attacked she did hurt me but the La Push Pack was there to help me. I recovered quickly from my injuries. That was also the day that I was told about werewolves. Sam was the Alpha at the time. Jacob took his rightful place as leader soon after I left for the military. But, I am skipping ahead. After the first attack, the pack worked with me due to the fact that they now knew why Victoria was trying to get pasted their patrols. They started overlapping guard duty and worked non-stop to protect me and Charlie. We hadn't seen her for months after that. Right before graduation she came after me again while I was driving to visit Jacob after work. She attacked me while I was driving and messed up my truck trying to get to me. The pack showed up in time to save me again but my truck was totaled."

"You must have been so scared." Esme came over and hugged me a little too tight.

"I was scared but I was more worried about Charlie and my friends. Victoria wanted to kill me but she was getting more reckless with each try. I knew soon she could get her revenge by killing others that I cared about. I also knew that I couldn't just sit and wait for the next attack. So, right after graduation, I joined the military." I looked over at Edward. "Like I said earlier, I understood that sometime you need to leave the ones you love to keep them save" He still looked like he was having a hard time with the fact he left.

"Bella, can I ask you something?" Jasper sat forward on the couch.

"Sure"

"Did you kill Victoria?" He was good.

"Yes I did. That was the best fucking day of my life. To finally end that war with her felt awesome. Especially after she killed my mother and stepfather to get to me." I was starting to get worked up.

"You knew Victoria Killed them? How did you know?" Alice was perplexed.

"Even since I left Forks, I had been afraid that she might do something like that. But my suspicions were confirmed that it was her when I drove by my parents burnt up house after the funeral and saw a pair of ballet shoes hanging on the front door." I took a deep breath as the memory flashed in my head.

"Why didn't you tell us when you saw us at the Funeral?" Rose asked this time.

"Because this was my fight and it was my turn for payback. I also had been planning to kill Victoria for years. If you all got involved then you might have gotten hurt or killed the way I had things set up already."

"You should have let us help Bella. We could have killed her easily. You are just a human and for a human to kill a vampire sounds impossible." Emmett always was so protective.

"Bella, please know that I respect you and don't doubt you are telling the truth but I have never heard of a human killing a vampire. Can you please tell us how you did it because I think this is a first in our history." Jasper now looked shocked.

"Up until this point I have not given a lot of details because to me, everything before the day I killed Victoria was preparation and gave me motivation. The jobs I picked in the military gave me what I need to kill her. EOD gave me the weapons to kill her and being a sniper gave me precision and control. I had been working with La Push for years and after Victoria killed my mom and Phil they supported me 100 % . Since the reservation was outside of the local law, the elders granted me permission to set the trap up on their land. Jacob and the pack helped set up my trap when I arrived to Washington after the funeral. I knew Victoria would be behind me and I didn't have much time to get the trap set up. The trap was a one shot deal. If I had failed then she would not have fallen for it again. In a field about 20 miles away from the main area of the reservation is where I set my trap. The pack kept the elders updated while I burrowed about 7 pounds of C4 with a napalm mixture on top of each brick in the ground. It was overkill but I didn't want to take any chances. I placed them in a strategic pattern with the bait in the center. My blood." By this point the shock factor was at an all time high in my house.

"Holy shit. You blew her up?" Emmett said in awe.

"The Napalm was genius." Jasper smiled as he was in deep thought.

"How did you know that would work?" Carlisle asked.

"Because I knew the basic of killing a vampire. Break them in pieces and burn them. The C4 can destroy anything that I have ever seen and the napalm ignites with the C4 coating the pieces and burning them to ash." Answering Carlisle.

"Couldn't you have been killed in that blast too?" Edward asked me.

"Edward, I have been highly trained and am one of the foremost experts in both fields while in the military. I knew what I was doing." He always worried.

"Now, I am starting to make sense of things. I don't think I have ever met anyone as unique as you, Bella. Everything since day one of meeting you, has left me questioning a lot of deep seeded theories. I am positive now that you break all the rules when it comes to being a normal human." Jasper praised me.

"Thank you for the compliment. I just did what I needed to and over the years I have found that I was stronger than I thought."

"I always told you that you never saw yourself clearly. I still don't think you fully realize what you just told us most of our kind would never believe could happen." Edward said.

"Well, now you know what my life consisted of since you all left. Here I sit before you alive and well. You also know that I had to join one war to fight another. But right now both are over and all I want to do is enjoy the victory. So please let's not dwell on the stuff in my past." For right now, that was all I could tell them. That was enough to give a vampire a heart attack if possible.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

**Author's Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has read my story. Please review!!!

**Chapter 12: Fact or Fiction**

**Edward's POV**

Each time Bella told us a little more about her life after we had left Forks, the more unbelievable it was. My families thoughts where split in what they heard also. Jasper, Alice and Emmett believed that Bella did kill Victoria like she had just told us. But, Carlisle, Esme, and Rose were not exactly sure if it was even feasible for a human, let alone Bella, could kill an experienced and vindictive vampire like Victoria.

Listening to all their thought had me not knowing what to believe. Looking at Bella after she told us this newest piece of her life I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of my sweet Bella doing this. She looked just as fragile as I remember, but still stubborn and now confident.

"In the last week of you visiting me, all we have covered is the somewhat interesting things I have had happened . We have time to talk over the next few weeks and I really want to know how everyone else has been doing the last few years." Bella told us.

"Somewhat interesting? What could possibility be more impressive than you killing a vampire?" Emmett asked. Bella was looking at Emmett when he asked.

"Emmett, it's not that impressive really, it all about tactics." Bella responded.

Rose was going over what Alice's vision about what Victoria had said and the secret room we found in Bella's old house in Texas. She wanted to believe, but for a human to kill a vampire with our superior abilities made it sound like Bella was making it up.

"So that is why you had that vault of highly dangerous weapons in your basement in your house in Texas?" Emmett asked. We all glared at him. "What?" Emmett doesn't think before he talks sometimes.

Bella laughed. "I guess somethings never change. So you went to my house in Texas?" she didn't seen upset about us invading her privacy.

"We were hunting Victoria and wanted to see if there was any clues at your house. We didn't mean to pry. We kept hitting dead ends and so we were desperate to find anything." I informed her.

"It's fine. Good recon is important in missions." Bella grinned.

Jasper was doing the calculations in his mind about the explosives that Bella said she used to kill Victoria and the blast radius from that type of explosion. He also was working the probability of success if a vampire was involved in the explosion. The percentage of survival for our kind was astonishing...less than a 2% change to not become ash.

"So tell me what has been new and exciting in everyone's life since Forks" Bella asked again.

Emmett laughed, "The most excitement we have has been the last 6 months. Life has been pretty miserable and boring without you." Emmett was just thinking about the shows he had watched on TV about the demolition of hotels in Las Vegas. The entire building turning to dust and rubble after the countdown.

Trying to come to grips with the fact that Bella had to deal with Victoria while I was wallowing in self pity, made me angry at myself. All these years, not even checking on her to see if she was safe. Thinking that with me gone that she could have a normal life, when in reality she was dealing with what I left behind, Victoria.

I was broken out of my thoughts when Bella asked the question again, "So what have all of you been up to since you left Fork?" she looked at me and all I could do is look away. How could I tell her about my pathetic existence without her these past 8 years.

"Actually, Bella we haven't done a lot since we left. There is nothing to really tell." Alice saving me from answering. Alice had seen exactly what I had been doing and answered her truthfully...absolutely nothing.

"Oh come on!!! What cities have you lived in? What schools have you been going to? Has anyone gone to college again? You can tell me the basics at least." Bella was persistent with knowing the details.

"If you must know we have been in New York since we left. All of us minus Edward tried for a few years to continue as usual, but it started to wear us down to the point where we just stayed home most of the time." Carlisle answered. Bella gave him a confused look and then looked over at me.

"What do you mean, wear you down?" Bella asked.

"Bella, our family hasn't been the same since we left. We felt like we lost a piece of our family after Forks. You have made a huge impact on us all especially Edward." Esme answered.

I looked at Bella, she was considering what Esme just told her. She was so controlled and guarded as she sat in the chair across from me. I wish I could hear her thought, it felt like she was even more of a mystery to me.

"What are you thinking, Bella?" I couldn't stop myself. She looked at me and her expression was soft and her eye showed a small bit of hope.

"I was just thinking about what you said earlier about what Esme had suggested." Bella replied.

"We wanted to talk to you later about us moving closer to you here in Colorado. Jasper suggested that we move here to be closer to you since you are still in the military. We know that you can't leave Colorado and we have been in New York long enough. We were needing to move anyways." Carlisle smiled at me knowing that I couldn't leave Colorado now either.

"Your family has always been able to go anywhere you've desired. All I wanted to know is if I could keep in contact with your family since I haven't been able to in the last eight years." Bella excluded herself when she said "your family". We knew she always felt like an outsider.

"We would like to be more involved than just an occasional phone call or visit. If you don't mind we would like to be close to you because you are like a daughter and a sister. Our family isn't complete without you, if you will let us try and make up for our absence." Carlisle told her.

"There is no need to make up for anything and you are more than welcome to move closer. I just want you all not to have to move out of guilt." She thought we felt guilty. We did feel guilty for leaving her to deal with Victoria, but that wasn't what she was referring to.

"Well then it is settled. We are moving to Aspen since we can go anywhere we want. We are moving here to be happy again and to get the family together again." Alice said as a vision came to her briefly. It was everyone but Bella and myself moving from New York to Aspen.

Jasper looked over at Alice and she winked at him. He knew she had a vision and was happy she didn't feel so blind. Then she tried to see my future and all she got was fuzzy movement. She was frustrated but still happy.

"**Edward that means you must be staying here with Bella. I have no idea what will happen but you two will have time alone when we move. Make the best of it and don't mess things up again"** Alice told me in her mind.

**Jasper's POV**

I had so many questions for Bella. But I also knew with all the feeling surrounding me that we all needed to figure out how to be happy again. I kept trying to get a read off of Bella's emotion and got nothing.

"Bella how do you feel about us wanting to be more involved with you?" I asked.

"I thought for sure you out of everyone, you knew the answer to that question." She looked over at me and it was like she was waiting for me to confirm something.

"Ever since the funeral I haven't gotten anything off of you. I kinda makes me nervous that you are unreadable." She smiled, she had a look of triumph. "I now know how Edward has felt. It is very frustrating but, you seen to like knowing this fact." I told her.

"I have always liked that my mind was private. Now even my feelings are my own, too. I don't mean to be frustrating and so I will try to be more expressive." She was in deep thought about what she just said.

My mind was working on a new puzzle with Bella's new life. It was almost like she could defend herself completely. All areas, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Edward noticed my thoughts and I could tell he was wondering about this too, now.

"I guess for now we can see where things go. I have a few things that I have planned over the next month and we all will be able to talk more one on one. It will be nice to have you all around. I still can tell that everyone has heard what I have said but, some of you don't understand what I have said" She was more perceptive and mature than I remember.

Without knowing what she was feeling would make it hard for us to understand her now. Looking at her I could tell she was happy about us being back in her life. But, as she looked towards Edward, they still had a lot to work out between them. Edward had a lot of emotions going through him. The two that were constant was love and longing.

"**Edward, tell her how you feel. Talk to her about what you have been doing and feeling the last 8 years. She needs to know"** I told him silently and felt the guilt surge from him **"I know you feel guilty but if you want her to trust you again you need to tell her everything. She can handle it. I can't help you with how she is feeling but you still know her better than any of us."** I knew he heard what I thought because his resolve was strengthening.

**Bella's POV**

Hearing that Jasper couldn't feel my emotion made me relax significantly. I felt more on equal ground with the family since they showed up. All I could think about was Edward and what Carlisle said about him not being with them in New York. Where had he been? Why hadn't he been with his loved ones? Had he ever came back to Fork's after I joined the military? Did he want me in his life still like the rest of the family?

I knew we would talk and I also knew that the two main issues would be talked about: my safety and my soul. Both were not an issue anymore but I needed to know more about where we stood before trying to explain. I wanted to tell him before the rest of the family and alone.

"So do you guys have any idea when you will be moving?" I was curious how long they planned on staying here. I wanted to spend time with them but remembering my time with them before and my 18th birthday, I knew accidents did happen.

"What about we plan on moving after your leave is over. If you don't mind us staying with you until then?" Esme said.

"That is fine with me. You are more than welcome to stay here. If you are more comfortable in the apartment I will understand also." They all seemed happy to stay.

"So Bella, what are your plans on leave?" Alice smiled and I knew she wanted to go shopping with me.

"Actually Alice, I need to go shopping." Wait for it...Squeal from Alice, right on time. "But I think clothes are last on my shopping list." she pouted after that comment.

"Then what do you need to go shopping for?" she still loved shopping no matter what it was for.

"I was hoping that Rose and Emmett could help me with a few of my items and then if Esme and you are up to it, I need to do some house shopping." I kinda liked having them here for advice on my new house and the additions I wanted for the garage.

"Oh, goodie. I love decorating and your house is just begging for some personal touches" Alice was bouncing. She fluttered off before I could say another word.

"Well, you just made Alice and Esme extremely happy. But, what can Emmett and I help you with?" Rose looked confused.

"Tomorrow I will let you know when we leave. Your help will save a lot of time and I have a feeling both of you will enjoy my type of shopping." They both had no idea what I was going to be buying but it would help for the extra drivers. "Oh, I hope you don't mind but we will need to take your Jeep Emmett, I only have 2 seaters." I asked.

"You could take the Volvo if you need more space" Edward offered. He looked hurt that I didn't included him in my plans.

"Actually the Volvo is a better idea. It can go faster than the Jeep." Rose told me.

"That's fine. If you don't mind Edward?" Looking at him again made me remember all the time we spent alone in his Volvo.

"I don't mind at all. I probably won't be needing it for awhile anyways." He replied. The hidden meaning was not missed by me. He had no plans on leaving for awhile.

"I appreciate it. Do you have any plans while your here?" I asked him. He looked away and then looked back into my eyes.

"A few but we will have to see how things go." His eyes showed me that he had a lot on his mind.

About then Alice reappeared and had a frightening look on her face. "What is all of that scary stuff in your guest bedroom?" Alice pointed to my third bedroom on the first floor. Oops forgot about that.

"Sorry Alice. Forgot to warn you that I still need to get my weapons safe set up for my 'scary stuff' as you put it." I haven't had time to get a new one ordered from my usual store.

"Why do you still need all of those guns and explosives if Victoria's dead?" Jasper asked.

"I only have my weapons here. The explosives are in my backup location in Washington. It's only just a small collection in there." As I said that Alice's eyes got huge.

"That's a small collection!!!! It looks like you are ready for World War III." She screamed at me.

"Alice calm down. All of my weapons in that room are useless right now. They are unloaded and the firing pins have been removed. Just leave that room alone until I get the safe set up. You can help with the rest of the house." she was blowing this out of proportion.

"If Victoria is dead then why do you even need the guns or 'backup location' anymore? Can't you just get rid of all of that stuff now?" Edward asked with an irritated tone.

"First, Victoria is DEAD!!! If you all don't believe me then I can call Jacob or any of the pack and they can tell you. They witnessed the whole thing. Second, I love my weapons and I don't have any plans on getting rid of them even if there is no threat. I know you worry about me getting hurt but, seriously I can handle almost any type of weapon, so stop acting like I am being reckless or stupid." I was not trying to lash out, but it came out too harsh.

"I didn't mean to offend you Bella. I know you aren't being reckless or stupid. It's just hard to comprehend and accept everything you have told me." Edward had a worried look now.

"I think I need to head to bed now. It has been a long day and it is late. I didn't mean to snap but it is hard for me to be treated like I don't know what I am doing. I know it will take time for you to understand who I have become. Good night everyone." I turned and headed to my room.

After getting ready for bed, I stayed awake thinking about everything over the past week. My life had been turned upside down and I felt like I was fight for control all over again. The biggest fight was my feeling for Edward. He still had the same effect on me and I felt like the past 8 years were just a dream. I didn't want to feel that vulnerable again. The major difference with my feelings towards him, was the sexual need that hadn't felt nearly as strong as when we were in High School. Right now, Jasper was lucky that he couldn't feel what I was feeling.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

**Author's Notes:** I appreciate everyone's patience with my story. Everyone wants to know when Bella will tell the family about herself...soon, I promise.

**Chapter 13: Round 1**

**Bella's POV**

At 4:29 I looked at my alarm clock and shut it off. I didn't really sleep, more like rested because of someone (most likely Edward) staying outside of my bedroom door all night. My senses picked it up after I laid down for bed. He never came in my room so, he must have just stayed there all night.

Getting changed into some sweats I noticed that I was alone again when I went to open my door. Stepping into the hallway, the sweet smell that I could recognize as Edward's was strong. He was very reserved and held back which had me wondering what was really going on with him.

Leaving out the back door, running my normal 10 miles to keep me in top shape. As I slowed the last mile near the house, I noticed Jasper on the back patio.

"How many miles do you normal run?" He asked as he sat in a chair on the patio.

Slowing to a walk as I got to him I told him, "At home I normally run 10 miles daily" Remembering that I needed to stretch to make it more believable like my morning workouts on base. I started to stretch out my calves, even though I didn't need to with my fast healing rate I was never sore.

"25 minutes? That is an average of 2 ½ minute mile, you should be in the Olympics at that rate." He said but didn't seem impressed at all. Running at home I never had to clock myself. For the military I always slowed down for runs to make it more realistic. The best time I ever did in the military was 3:49 per mile, and that was pushing it.

"Maybe I didn't do all 10 miles. It could have been 6-8 not sure exactly. I just run to run most of the time." Hopefully that would stop more questions. Jasper has been watching me like a hawk and picking up on a lot before the rest of the family. I needed to be careful around him.

"That's sounds more likely. It's good to see you so relaxed today. This last week has been stressful especially for you I can imagine." He stood up as I headed for the door.

"Nothing I am not used to." I headed back to my room to change for the trip to Denver. When I got to my room, Edward was sitting on my bed. I was a surprise of the thoughts that I had running through my head with him full clothed. The military life definitely altered my mind to the more X rated side of day dreaming.

His golden eyes captured me and my eyes were locked with his for longer than I had allowed since he had shown up. The green button down shirt he wore set off his eyes and his jeans were tighter than I remembered him wearing before. He was doing things to my willpower just by doing nothing but sitting on my bed looking at me. How does he do that?

"I was hoping to talk to you after you get back from Denver. If you don't mind?" he finally broke the silence and causing me to break eye contact.

"We need to talk Edward and we will. If tonight works for you then we can talk. If you don't mind I need to get ready to go." Going to my Dresser and pulling out a pair of leather pants and grabbing another high collar shirt. Soon I would need to do laundry because I only had so many shirts that can cover my shoulders and the lower section of my neck.

"I look forward to talking to you tonight." He got up and left my room permitting me to change. Shutting the door behind him I collapsed on my bed. How long could I hide the fact that he was driving me crazy just being close. I could be stronger than this, why is this so hard.

After changing, I went downstairs to look for Rose and Emmett. Again I could only sense one person here. Where was everyone? In the living room, Edward was reading one of the newest books that I had picked up overseas.

"Whoa..." Edward looked up at me. "Those pants...different...you look..." he wasn't forming complete sentences. He looked so sexy when he was at a loss for words. Well at least I could mess with him, apparently. I think I figured out Edwards weakness, leather.

"Is Rose and Emmett around?" I asked innocently. He was still not focused enough to hear what I asked. "Edward, can you please take your eyes off my ass for a second so you can answer me." He snapped out of it and looked away ashamed.

"I didn't mean to be rude and that was completely inappropriate. I'm sorry about that. Rose and Emmett are outside waiting in the garage." It was nice to see that Edward was as normal as every other man on this planet sometimes.

"Don't apologize and thanks for answering me." Heading out the door to the garage. When I got in the garage Rose was looking at my Cobra and had the hood up. She was just inspecting it and Emmett was looking at her ass as she was bent over.

"Well I am glad I am not the only woman who is getting her ass stared at today" I laughed as Emmett turned and looked at me. Rose slowly shut the hood on my car.

"I don't think Edward had it in him to actually stare at your ass. Seeing you in those leather pants I can completely understand." Emmett smiled just as Rose smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ready to go. We will need to make two stops but it shouldn't take too long." We headed for the Volvo and Rose hoped in the driver's seat. Since I knew where we were going I got shotgun. Poor Emmett was stuck in the backseat.

When we were on the highway heading towards Denver Rose ask "So where are we headed?"

"First stop is the International Dealership to pick up the truck I have been wanting for awhile and then to the Ducati Dealership to pick up my new bike." I was looking forward to taking my bike home personally.

"The International Truck Dealership? You want to buy a Semi Truck?" Emmett asked me.

"Not exactly. We had some truck that they built for the military overseas. They have a civilian model and I know that I need a truck up here in the winter. You will see when we get there Emmett and you will be driving it back for me if you don't mind." He had a grin from ear to ear.

"Why can't I drive it back, he could take the Volvo back." Rose was actually upset at the fact I didn't offer to let her drive it back.

"I personally don't care who drive it back. Just know if you break it you buy it. I just want to ride my bike home." Ever since me and Jacob started riding the motorcycles at La Push I have missed the adrenaline and feel of speed on a motorcycle.

"Bella, why do you need more vehicles? You can only drive one at a time. And how can you afford these things?" Rose asked me.

"For the first time in a long time I can do things that I have wanted to. People in the military love vehicles because we can take them where ever we go. I am pretty well off after my mom and step dad were killed. Plus, I haven't really spent any money on anything while I was at war with Victoria. Now I can have fun and that is what I am doing." I had other plans for the future to plan for but, right now I wanted to live life and have fun.

We got to the International Dealership and I went in to the sales office. They only had 2 of the trucks on the lot that I wanted. These trucks were not for everyone with a price tag they put on it. I negotiated the price and military discount with the cash sale that would guaranteed to get the sales guy a hefty commission. The paperwork was done in about an hour. I held up the keys to my new Navistar CXT in between Rose and Emmett. I was surprised at how fast Rose snatched them from me with a smile. Emmett pouted but, not for long because he was happy that Rose was happy.

The Ducati Dealership was just a few miles away. Same situation as the International dealership and soon I was the proud owner of a Ducati Streetfighter. We started back to the house with Rose leading. I was on the tail end of the convoy and still going faster than I ever had while riding with Jacob. I wasn't wearing the helmet I got with the bike because in Colorado they hadn't passed a helmet law yet. Rose was concerned about that but didn't push the issue too much.

Rose and Emmett pulled up to the garage in front of the doors to park. Pulling up closer to the house I say Edward and he look pissed. He was by the side of my bike before I could even turn off the ignite and get off of it.

"What are you thinking??? You bought a motorcycle? These things are death traps and you could get killed." Edward started in on me with a fury I had never seen before from him.

"Let's go then Edward...Round 1 and no holding back. You and I need to say what is really the fucking issue here. You can't control me!!! When the fuck will you understand that no matter how hard you try things just happen. Stop over thinking and just live for once. Eight fucking years I have lived without you. You step back in my life and think that the same shit can fly like before. Wrong!" We needed to get mad so we can get out what needed to be said.

He stopped and was trying to regain his control. "No Edward, say what you want to say. Fucking say something. Stop thinking and just say anything." I was still mad and wasn't letting him back down yet.

"You want to know the truth, I can't live without you and all I have heard since we have been here is all the stupid and reckless things you have done. You promised me you would stay safe, Bella. Are you still trying to die like you said you wanted to after we left." He was still upset but I knew he could do better than this.

"Yes, I would love to die, Edward. That is my goal in life. You said you can't live without me but you left and now all you can do is be pessimistic when I am standing right here. Come on Edward, I am a hell of a lot more durable than you think. Grow some balls and tell what you really have a problem with." I yelled at him. He growled at me. "What the hell have you been doing the last 8 years? What kinda distractions have keep you away for so fucking long."

"You want to know what I have been doing the last 8 years, nothing. I could barely function without you. All my mind would let me do is think of you for 8 years. I have had a pathetic life since I lied to you and left you. I pretty much curled up in a ball and stopped living. That is what my life is like without you and why I don't want you to risk your life now that you are back in my life." He was still mad but I could see the guilt.

"Think about what you just said, Edward!!! Eight years has already been lost. All you can do is feel guilty over shit that is can't change. We are here now and all you are doing is worrying. Stop fucking worrying and start being happy for once. All I want to do is enjoy what I am given." I jumped on him, wrapping my legs around him and kissed him with the passion that was surging through me. It took him a fraction of a second to respond but once he did I felt the electric surge through us both with an intensity I couldn't even describe. He wrapped his arms around me and held on to me so tight I almost couldn't breath. His lips molded to mine perfectly and I had been wanting to feel his lips for too long.

After almost a minute I raised my head and grinned wickedly. "No apologies, no regrets just the truth." I could tell he was out of breath that wasn't needed and speechless. He loosen his hold on me and I drop back to the ground. "Now that is out of the way, lets go talk." I looked up to see the family all with smiles and when I looked over they disappeared into the forest. "Round 1 is over, now we can see how Round 2 goes." I started heading towards the house. "Are you coming inside to talk or are you just going to stand there?" He turned towards me and his eyes were smoldering. I caught the small glance at my ass in the leather pants again and laughed.

**Edward's POV**

Bella was trying to kill me. First she shows up on a motorcycle, then she started a yelling match with me when I was already upset, then she kisses me with so much force and passion that I almost felt like passing out. She was incredible and had me going crazy.

She pushed my buttons and everything came out. Jasper was right she could handle it. The Bella I remember would have taken it personal and blamed herself for something I did. This one just wanted the truth. She was right about how you can't change the past but it doesn't help me not feel guilty.

When I entered the house Alice shouted to me mentally that the family was giving us time to work things out. She would let me know when they came back before coming into the house all the way.

"Alice just said that the family will be gone for a while for us to talk" I let Bella know. She just smiled and then headed to the kitchen. She pulled out the left over Italian food that Esme brought home last night. I waited in the living room gathering my thoughts about what just happened outside.

Bella walked back into the living room and I couldn't keep my eyes or thoughts away from those leather pants she was wearing. They hugged her curves and made her butt look amazing. Mentally slapping myself back to the talk with Bella.

"Sometimes anger can fuel conversations that need to happen. Please know that I was just trying to get you to talk to me and for us to say what we really need to. I have been wanting to talk to you and clear up a lot of things since you showed up." Bella was explaining what had happened outside.

"I didn't mean to come at you like that. I'm sorr..." she cut me off.

"NO APOLOGIZE, NO REGRETS Just the truth Edward" she emphasized the 'no apologies, no regrets' part. I could tell that this was going to be harder than normal.

"The truth is I love you Bella and I have never stopped loving you. I will never regret falling in love with you but you know that I can't stop worrying about hurting or killing you. You mean too much to me and I can't lose you." That was the truth.

"Edward, look at me." I looked into her deep brown eyes and saw a depth that I never noticed before. She looked at me with an openness and love that I remembered when we first went to our meadow. "You don't need to worry about me. Things always work out even if they don't make sense."

"It is my nature to worry, you know that. All I want to do is protect you and not have to worry about hurting you. Now I don't think I can ever leave again so how are things going to work out." I didn't want to have this conversation yet but I knew we need to. I needed to know if she still wanted to become like us or stay human, either way I wasn't leaving again.

"Edward, I need to tell you something that is impossible to understand. If we are going to make this work then I need to tell you the total truth but you need to be open minded and answer me with complete honesty. Can you do that?" She was pleading with me and I could see in her eyes that this was going to be hard. What was so impossible to understand? I didn't know what she needed to tell me but I would listen to what ever she needed to say.

"I can try to be open minded and honest for you. I promise to listen and answer anything you ask with the truth." This was important to her I could see that much. Then she got up and went to the guest bedroom to get something. When she came back she had a long black piece of fabric in her hands.

"Can I blindfold you for this?" she asked me. I wasn't completely understanding why I needed to be blindfolded but I nodded and she can around and tied it over my eyes. She leaned in next to my ear and whispered, "Trust me".


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers.

**Author's Notes:** Thank you to everyone who has read my story. Please review!!!

Almazuna18: Thank you for all you encouraging reviews!!! I am happy that I can break the mold sometimes.

**Chapter 14:** Round 2

**Bella's POV**

Looking at Edward after I blindfolded him made me unsure how to word this correctly. Explaining exactly what I am when I didn't even know was not something I had ever done before.

He deserved to know before things went any further between us. And I wanted him to know so if he wanted to leave after finding out, it won't hurt as much…I hope. Looking at him now from a new perspective after the last eight years made me see we in fact did come from different worlds.

Taking a deep breath, I started with the familiar, "Edward, this is going to be hard to explain so please bear with me while I try to make this make sense to you." Another deep breath "If I could stay exactly the way I am now, what would you think about that?"

"Bella, you can choose to stay the way you are and I will still love you." Edward answered.

"Now, being a vampire verses a human has certain advantages like durability, speed, strength, the most important eternity. Would you agree?" He looked uncomfortable talking about this.

"There are more disadvantages to being a monster like I am. Please can I just talk to you about this without the blindfold?" He started to reach for the blindfold and I stopped his hand.

"Please, just answer, if you agree with those advantages. I need you to trust me." He lowered his hands back into his lap.

"Yes I would agree that those are some of the advantages vampires have." He hesitatingly answered.

This is where it will get tricky for him to understand. "Edward, what if you could have the best of both worlds? If I could stay with you forever just like I am and you never have to worry about me getting killed or hurt or changed?" He was confused by my question.

"That's impossible…I don't understand what you are asking me?" He replied.

"I guess this is harder to tell you so maybe I need to show you." I took off my shirt and had my bra on so I could show him. He was still blindfolded but he heard me taking off my top.

"Bella, what are you doing?" He shifted in the chair.

"Just trust me." I took both of his cold hands into my warm hands. I placed one over my heart and he exhaled a breath. Then I placed the other hand on my cheek. "I want you to feel what I am trying to tell you before you see it. Hopeful it will be easier this way." I slowly took his hand that was on my cheek and started moving it down my neck. Right before I reached my scars I whispered. "No matter what I will always love you" and brought his hand down to where Victoria had bitten me on my neck.

He gasped and I knew he felt them, "Are….those…bite marks?" he whispered. In a flash, he was across the room with the blindfold off looking at me like I had gone mad. He was staring at the marks on my neck and shoulder. "How?" He whispered so softly I almost couldn't hear him.

"Yes they are bite marks. How? I don't know. Can you please sit down so we can talk about this?" I motioned back to the chair he was just in.

"Vampire Bite Marks? That's impossible" He hadn't moved from the corner in the living room. "You can't still be human if you were bitten. And you have been bitten more than once. How can that be?" He was talking to himself more than me. Then he looked up at me with agony radiating from his golden eyes. "What are you?"

The way he said the question hurt deep in me. "Honestly, I don't know. What I do know is I can't die and I can't really be hurt by anything, even vampires" after saying that he inhaled in shock. His eyes darted to the back door and he wanted to get away from me. He looked into my eyes and I could tell he didn't want to leave and hurt my feelings but, he was having a hard time with this information. "Go Edward, I understand you need time. Don't worry about me just go." I said this staying as composed as possible.

He took off out the back door and glanced back to me as he left. Knowing that this could happen was one thing but to have it happen was another. I knew that there was no real easy way to tell him. Hell, I thought I was insane when Victoria first attacked me. At least now he knows and if he doesn't want to come back then I can move on, alone. This is probability easier in the long run.

**Edward's POV**

Heading west away from Bella's house, I didn't know where I was going but I had to get away. I saw my Bella with bite marks and she was still human. Impossible! Nothing that I just witnessed was logical.

Within miles of the house I heard my family approaching from the south. "Edward, what happened?" Alice shouted and I stopped dead in my tracks.

"I can't explain it. She told me…unbelievable…not possible…" I needed to think and couldn't answer her.

"Wait, Edward please tell us what was said?" Carlisle reached his hand to my shoulder.

"I don't know how, I need to clear my head. Please let me go and be alone for awhile." I begged Carlisle to understand. He nodded and I began running again. I just needed time to try and rationalize this new part of the woman fell in love with so long ago.

**Rosalie's POV**

Looking at my brother now, I saw a pain and agony in his eyes that tore my heart apart. I needed to know what happened to cause this. Before any of my family realized, I took off back to Bella's house to confront her about what she had said. My family and brother had been through enough for the last eight years for this to start again. I was going to get to the bottom of what was going on.

Bursting through the back door of her house I saw her and she seem liked nothing just happened, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU TELL HIM, BELLA?" I screamed at her and my rage was getting the better of me.

"I showed him the truth and he needs time to deal with it his way." She was too relaxed about this.

"BULLSHIT! You mindfucked him and I doubt anything you have said had been the truth, so what did you say!!!" She was not going to mess with my family like this and not deal with my wraith.

"I told him what I was and it was too much for him to process right now." She responded.

"YOU'RE A BITCH! What kind of sick game is this?" About then I heard my family behind me.'

"You want to know what happened. FINE! This is the mindfuck and sick game my life as dealt me." She screamed at me as she pulled back her shirt collar to show the scars on her neck and shoulder. They were bite marks. "This is what I showed Edward in the best way I could and he still couldn't handle it." She was up in my face by this point.

"Those can't be real. What did you do scar yourself up to make it look like you were bitten so your lies could be more believable." The scars on her neck were over her jugular and looked real but couldn't be.

"All 5 of my bite marks are real. Just like the two dozen times I have been shot, stabbed, and blow up are real. Having every bone in my body broken. Almost being decapitated and Victoria trying to crush my skull with her bare hands. All of it has been the hell I have lived for the last 8 years and never got granted death from any of it. That is my reality and the truth." Bella looked me dead in the eye when she spoke these words to me.

"Lies, they have to be lies. You're human." That was all I could say.

Then she did something that shocked me more than anything in my entire existence. She pulled back and landed a hard right hook on my jaw. I ACTUALLY FELT A SHIFT IN MY JAW FROM HER PUNCH!!! The sound of multiple bones cracking inside her hand was heard throughout the house.

"Oh my god Bella let me see your hand. I know it's broken we all heard it." Carlisle was at Bella's side looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine Carlisle" she stepped away from him and flexed her hand out and we heard another crackling sound again.

"Are you crazy? You just hit me and all you accomplished is hurting yourself." I shouted at her.

"Bella let me see your hand and no arguing." Carlisle grabbed her hand to inspect it. He gasped and was feeling the bones in her hands over and over. "This can't be right" he whispered.

"Carlisle, you won't find any broken bones in my hand so can I have it back now" Bella insisted.

"We all heard the bones break, but I can't find anything wrong with your hand at all" He was still checking it for the umpteenth time. Then he looked up at her neck and gasped again. "They are real vampire bite marks, but how?" He was feeling the area with his mouth hanging open in awe.

**Jasper's POV**

I was in shock when we returned to Bella's home as we saw Bella pull her shirt away from her neck where we all saw the scars. She had said she had battle scars that she didn't want us to see. Looking at her soft flesh where the scars showed I knew that they were real. My body was covered in the same scars she had now.

The screaming match between Rose and Bella keep going and I was feeling the anger coming off of Rose. I was trying to control it so it didn't influence the rest of the family.

Before any of us could react, Bella swung and hit Rose in the jaw. Rose's anger switched to now astonishment.

Carlisle was trying to tend to Bella's had that was now broken. What I detected is that Bella should have been in tremendous pain at this point but, she didn't even shed a tear. She flexed her hand and didn't even flinch. This was not normal behavior.

After Carlisle asked Bella how she got the bit marks on her neck, I responded for her, "Victoria and Laurent gave you those scars, right Bella? Your battle scars" She looked at me and smiled.

"Yes they did. I am glad someone finally believes me." She whispered.

"Please don't take this the wrong way; do you know what you are?" I asked her.

"Edward already asked before he left. I told him I didn't know. The pack calls me the freak of the supernatural world. From what I have read, the closest description that matches is Immortal Human." She said this and moved her shirt back to cover her scars.

I had been trying to calm everyone down and it seemed like it was finally working. Most of the family was still frozen like statues near the backdoor. I sat down near Bella and wanted her to know that I believed her story. I took hold of her hand and she looked at me. I could tell she appreciated the kindness I was showing her.

"Why haven't you told us sooner?" I asked.

"Because I haven't told you the best part of me not being able to die, I am an all-you-can-eat buffet for vampires. I know you all would never intentionally hurt me but, other vampires would love to get their hands on me. That is what Victoria had planned the day I killed her. She knew she couldn't kill me and so she changed her plans to capture me and never have to hunt again." That's when Bella finally broke her shell and I saw tears come out of the corner of her eyes. "The reality of this is a fate worse than death for me. And pretty much is my only fear." She looked down and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

She was getting her armor back on and didn't want to show her weakness anymore. About then she looked up toward the front door. I heard the approach when she said, "Edward hasn't been very far and heard everything. I think he might actually want to join the conversation now." She knew he was there before any of us did.

Edward came through the front door a second later, "I'm sorry for the way I acted when you tried to tell me about this" he was looking at her with so much love.

"No apologies No regrets just the truth" she said again. "I knew this couldn't be easy for you to hear and I understand if you can't accept me for what I am now. I can never be like you and I am not really human now either. I don't really belong anywhere, not like I ever did before." She stood and started heading upstairs.

Edward pulled her into his arms before she reached the first step and held her. She didn't resist him and just laid her head against his chest. She still looked so fragile but, we all knew she had been through so much that we could never entirely identify with.

"You have always been an angel to me and the love you have given me is nothing short of a miracle. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day, I will love you forever" Edward whispered to her and kiss her hair.

She looked up at him "Edward when you will hear me? Stop asking to be forgiven and just be happy. You need to understand that I have never stopped loving you so, forever is starting now." She reached up and kissed him.

"Come on you guys! Enough with the lovey, dovey stuff. We want to hear about how much a 'Freak' Bella is." Emmett interrupted. Edward let a low growl out. Bella laughed whole heartedly.

**Carlisle's POV**

After hundreds of years on this planet, this was a new one in my book. The past few minutes had altered the reality that I once thought myself an expert. All of my medical knowledge and supernatural history had never prepared me for what we all had discovered.

"Bella, was your hand broken after you hit Rose?" I asked her. She was still in Edward's arms but my fascination was overwhelming me.

"Yes, Carlisle I did break my hand on Rose's face. Nothing personal Rose, I was just trying to prove my point." She smiled towards Rose whom already forgiven her.

"How did it heal so fast then? Did it hurt? Can you tell me anything else about what happens when you're injured?" I rambled off the questions so fast she missed part of it.

"Carlisle, I think you need to see for yourself. Explaining this shit is too hard." She pulled out of Edwards arms and walked to the kitchen. When she came back she had a large cutting knife and washcloth in her hands. "Please trust me and don't flip out. I have had 8 years dealing with my freak abilities as Jake calls it. This is a demonstration but if someone snaps at me, I will be ok. If some of you need to leave, please do so now. No one in this room can hurt me, even if you tried." She handed me the wet washcloth at this point.

"What exactly are you planning on doing?" I figured out she was going to cut herself but I asked anyways.

"I want to show you how quickly I can heal and trust me it's fast." She looked at Edward. "Can you handle this or do you need to leave?" She asked Edward.

"I'll be fine, but this goes against the grain to let you purposely hurt yourself." Edward was uneasy about this.

"Stop worrying Edward." She looked back at me. "Carlisle, so you can see exactly what happens, I need you to wipe my arm clear of the blood as soon as I cut myself. I can heal cuts in less than a minute." I nodded to her letting her know I understood. "Ready? Hold your breath if you need to"

She took the butcher knife and sliced into her arm. I froze and she didn't seem in pain at all. "Carlisle, wipe the blood please" she instructed and in a flash the blood was gone and her arm was perfectly normal. "One more time, but this time I will go deeper if you can wipe up the blood quickly you will actually see the skin healing."

She pressed the knife into her arm all the way to the bone and I didn't falter this time. As soon as the surface blood was clear of the wound, the skin was healing back to normal rapidly.

"Fascinating" I said as I watched in wonder. I cleaned the area on her arm again and there was no scar or signs of injury at all.

"Too bad you couldn't have that cool trick when you were so clumsy Bella" Emmett joked with her.

"It doesn't hurt at all? How about the bites and venom?" That was the most interesting of all.

"Nope it doesn't hurt. Sometimes I don't even know that I have broken something or am bleeding. The bites sting a little but the only thing I really feel is the pull as my blood is getting sucked from me." The family looked horrified at this comment Bella made.

"A Vampire has feed off you? Seriously?" Alice asked her.

"Laurent only got a little out of me when I was still human but his bite is what caused me to change into what I am now. Victoria got 3 meals for free off of me." She was joking about this appalling fact.

"That must have been horrible. And to live through it must have been devastating." Esme hugged Bella.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Bella replied. My daughter had to be the strongest one of the whole family. "I really want to tell you all everything but this has been one hell of a day for all of us. We have a lot more time to cover all of this, I promise. I would like to head to bed now and try this again tomorrow if it's ok with you." We forgot she needed her rest.

"Of Course, dear. Sweet Dreams" Esme kissed her temple.

"Thank you for telling us about yourself. We know this couldn't have been easy on you and we appreciate you trusting us with your secret." I hugged her and wished her a good night.

She started up the stairs and turned to Edward, "You coming or are you just going to stand there?" Smiling at my son. He took off up the stairs grabbing her in his arms and they were gone for the night into her room. It was good to see them happy again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in Twilight. They all belong to Stephanie Meyers. She is a genius.

**Chapter 14 – Aftermath**

**Bella's POV**

As we got to my room and the door shut behind us I turned to look at Edward and see if I could get a read about what he was thinking. From the look on his face I could tell he was still trying to come to terms with the events from today. Cannot say I blamed him for staying by the door looking at me like he was trying to solve the cure for cancer.

Turning to my dresser, I pulled out my shorts and tank top for sleeping and went to my bathroom to change. Thinking about all the questions and reactions today and will come tomorrow was weighing heavy on my mind, while I washed my face and brushed my teeth.

Deciding that I had to face Edward's questions tonight and I couldn't avoid him forever I stepped out of the bathroom to find him looking over the pictures I have on my dresser. Most of the photos were of the close friends in each unit and a few were of the pack and me at La Push of the years. The one photo he was looking at intently was the one with me as a blond. Without turning around he said " I think I like your brown hair better than the blond."

Laughing at this comment I walked over and agreed, "that was one of the many experiments that the pack and I tried when we were discovering what I could and couldn't do. Emily, Sam's wife had suggested it at dinner one night when we were talking about the tests we tried that day."

Edward turned his head and gave me a questioning look so I explained more. "After the first attack by Victoria I started staying on La Push to work with the pack and make it easier for them to protect me. One day Quil started talking about how I was some sort of superhero and that if can heal so fast maybe I could do other awesome things like fly or x-ray vision. After that all the guys got into the idea and we started to test some of the theories out." Smiling I look over at him and said "By the way, no I can't fly if you are wondering"

That got a smile from him and I turned towards my bed to sit and continue when Edward spoke up, "Bella we can talk about this tomorrow if you are tired." Laughing I countered with, " I really don't need to sleep with my freak abilities which was also test with the Pack for a two week "no sleep" stretch. But I do like to rest and feel human in some ways when I can"

Edward sat on the end of the bed looking at me with new eyes. "You are still so beautiful and to know that I can sit here no worrying about my blood lust is not something my brain can't comprehend right now Bella."

Understanding what he was saying "I thought I had final made myself crazy when this started and that it was all a hallucination like the visions of you had been after you left, so yeah I get it." He looked at me with concern and I just added "Another time I will explain. Right now I want to give you some time with this new me and see if we can still be together or if we can never truly be together because I can never be like you."

Edward immediately spoke, "Bella we will make this work one way or another and what you said earlier about having the advantages of a Vampire without the negatives is something that I know we can work with to be happy in the end."

Placing my hand on the other side of the bed, I silently asked if he would join me while I slept, like the old days. He smiled back and in a split second had me in his armed with me under the blankets and him on top of them.

Getting comfortable I asked, "So, how are the others taking the news downstairs?"

"At first it was a lot of jumbled thoughts at once, Jasper was the first one to start analyzing what you have told us so far and piece things together. Alice keeps thinking that the "new you" is the reason she can't see your future and Jasper can't feel your emotions and in between she is thinking of all the shopping she wants to do with you too." I wasn't surprised because Alice can find any reason to shop.

"Emmett is fascinated and trying to figure out how squishy you are for future fun including some very dangerous stunts with you. Rose is surprisingly thinking about how much she wishes she could be you right now, mainly due to the fact that you can still be human with life unending without every suffering like we do."

At this I sit up in shock and look at him, "Rose can not be jealous of me, that's impossible, she is so beautiful and I am just a freak" Edward smiles, "You are not a freak and she has been jealous of you since the first time you came to our house in Forks. You never did see yourself clearly"

Laying back down to think about Rose, Edward continues with the other thoughts of his family, "Esme is wondering if human food tastes the same and if you want breakfast in the morning. But I think Carlisle is the most stunned out of all of us. In all the time he has been on this earth and the knowledge he has as a doctor and the supernatural world, he has never heard of anything close to what he witnessed tonight."

Under my breather I say "Freak" but Edward hears and pulls my face up to look in my eyes as he says "Bella, every since I first laid eyes on you in the cafeteria you have been the most unique and special human I have ever met. What makes you who you are and what you have become is a gift not a curse. What I am is cursed, you are god sent".

From below we heard Carlisle say in a loud excited voice, "That's it! Greek Gods and deities" I raise an eyebrow at the statement and Edward shrugs, "I can't understand his thoughts right now"

Rising from the bed, "Oh well, not like I need sleep anyways" and start heading for my door but am stopped by Edward from behind, "Bella this can wait until the morning, let lay back down."

Turning to look at him, "What are you hiding from me" He looks away then says nothing.

Using all my strength I pull away from his grasp and he looks at me in shock. "I am a little stronger than you remember Edward and I know you are hiding something from me even after it was agreed not to do this bullshit anymore."

I turn and head for the door to find out what is really happening and why Edward won't tell me. When I get down stair the whispered conversations stop and all eyes are on me. "What is this about Greek Gods and Deities?" No one answers just looks at me with wonder.


End file.
